Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2011 , Vol 14, Issue 2
PRESBYCUSIS AND USING OF HEARING AIDS AMONG ELDERLY
Abdullah DURMAZ, Yusuf HIDIR, Sergül ULUS, Bülent SATAR
Gülhane Askeri Tıp Akademisi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Anabilim Dalı ANKARA Introduction: In this research, it is aimed to investigate properties of hearing loss, status of using of hearing aids, and satisfaction with hearing aids in elderly.

Materials and Method: Hearing aid proposed elderly patients were asked one year later to rate their satisfaction from one to ten points. Properties of hearing loss and demographics were compared between hearing aids users and non-users. Hearing aids users were divided into groups according to averages of pure tone (£50dB and >50dB), high frequency thresholds (£75dB and >75dB), and speech discriminations (£60% and >60%). Satisfaction was compared between these groups.

Results: 34 of 50 cases (68%) in the study group used a hearing aid and 16 (32%) didn't. Mean satisfaction rate was 4.6±4.1. Hearing aids users were older (p=0.006), had greater pure tone and high frequency averages than non-users ( p=0.016; p=0.034, respectively), but speech discriminations were lower (p=0.014). There were no statistically differences with respect to satisfaction when hearing aids users were divided into two groups each according to pure tone averages, high frequency averages and speech discriminations (p=0.939; p=0.072; p=0.852 respectively). Patients with >50dB hearing loss showed a greater tendency to use hearing aids (p=0.008, chi square= 7.123).

Conclusion: We observed that use of hearing aids increased through older age, greater pure tone and high frequency averages and with lower speech discriminations in the elderly. Severity of hearing loss didn't affect satisfaction with hearing aids in the study. Keywords : Aged; Hearing Loss; Hearing Aids