Article

PURPOSE: To assess the daily life consequences of hearing loss in older adults
and to explore the influences of hearing loss, subjective assessment of health
and general life satisfaction, gender, age and marital status. METHOD:
Eighty-four participants, each older than 65 years, were consecutively recruited
from a hospital waiting list for outpatient hearing aid fitting. All participants
were assessed by pure-tone audiometry. Daily life consequences of hearing loss
were measured using the Hearing Disability and Handicap Scale, which assesses
perceived activity limitation and participation restriction. Another
questionnaire was used to measure self-assessed health and life satisfaction.
RESULTS: Adjusted linear regression analysis showed that activity limitation was
significantly associated with increased hearing loss (p = 0.028) and decreased
health (p = 0.009), and participation restriction with lower estimated life
satisfaction (p </= 0.001). Gender, age and marital status were not determinant
factors for perceived activity limitation or participation restriction.
CONCLUSIONS: Daily life consequences of hearing loss, health conditions and
general life satisfaction are closely related. These findings indicate that
health factors and psychosocial aspects should be emphasised as a natural part of
audiological rehabilitation.

Langue : ANGLAIS