Hearing Screening in the elderly and evaluating the need for hearing aid

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting the elderly. The impacts of hearing loss are depression, social isolation, and functional disability, particularly for those who have not yet been evaluated or treated for hearing loss. The aim of this study was audiologic screening and assessing candidacy for hearing aid in the elderly people. This analytic-cross sectional study was performed on 52 older adults aged from 51 to 97. Subjects were evaluated according to ASHA guidelines for audiologic screening in adults (1997). Using HHIE-S as hearing disability screening instrument, the need for hearing aid use was evaluated. About 86 percent of subjects had some degree of hearing loss. There were significant correlation between PTA(0.5, 1, 2) KHz>26 and HHIE-S>10. According to these two factors 21.2 percent of subjects needed to use hearing aid while 18 percent of this group had hearing aids. There is high prevalence of hearing loss among older adults, thus it's necessary to evaluate the need for hearing aid in this rapidly growing population. Among different factors affecting hearing aid candidacy the most correlated were PTA(0.5, 1, 2)KHz>26 and HHIE-S>10. Therefore according to this study by combination of these two evaluation of hearing aid candidacy would be more appropriate.