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Family Practice Vol. 10, No. 4, 391-395
© Oxford University Press 1993

research-article

Prevalence of Hearing Impairment and Hearing Complaints in Older Adults: A Study in General Practice

BB ABUTAN*, AW HOES*,{dagger}, CL VAN DALSEN*,{ddagger}, J VERSCHUURE** and A PRINS*

* Departments of General Practice, Erasmus University Medical School Rotterdam, The Netherlands
{dagger} Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School Rotterdam, The Netherlands
{ddagger} Departments of Geriatrics, Erasmus University Medical School Rotterdam, The Netherlands
** Departments of Audiology, Erasmus University Medical School Rotterdam, The Netherlands

In one general practice, 660 people aged 60 years or over were screened by means of pure tone audiometry and a specific questionnaire to assess the prevalence of hearing impairment and hearing complaints. Hearing impairment was defined as an average loss of 35 dB or more in the 1, 2 and 4 kHz frequencies in one or both ears. In total, 37.4% (95% Cl, 33.3–41.1%) of the participants was hearing impaired. The prevalence was higher in men (55.1%) than in women (44.9%) and clearly increased with age in both sexes. The prevalence of hearing complaints in terms of hearing difficulties and/or tinnitus, was 37.3% (95% Cl, 33.6–41.0%), and increased with age, especially in women. Of the subjects with hearing impairment, 64.4% reported hearing complaints. Of the subjects without hearing impairment, 21.1% experienced hearing complaints. This study suggests that screening older adults with relatively simple methods, may identify a large proportion of men and women in general practice with hearing problems. Providing information to both patients and general practitioners about the possibilities of hearing improvement is a crucial step in making people become more aware of hearing problems. This could ultimately lead to improvement of the quality of life of older men and women with hearing problems.


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