Ocena niedosłuchu u osób powyżej 60. roku życia korzystających z aparatów słuchowych

Abstract Objective To assess the hearing impairment in people over 60 years old using hearing aids. This was a single-center study, but it is planned to extend it further to the whole country. Materials and methods The study was focused on patients with hearing aids. During the assessment 57 people were included in the observation in order to control the status of their hearing loss and benefit from traditional hearing aids as well as the possibility to apply the auditory implants in case of a little benefit from hearing aids. The otoscopy and pure tone audiometry were performed as well as the questionnaires on demographic and epidemiological data of patients were collected as well as the quality of their life with hearing aids was subjectively assessed. Results The results show that 91% of patients have sensorineural hearing loss (SHL), the remaining 9% – severe mixed hearing loss. Severe SHL was found in 22 patients, the moderate hearing loss was observed in 37%, and the profound SHL was the case in 5 patients. Minimal SHL was observed in 7% of patients ( n  = 4). More than 73% of the study subjects were male ( n  = 38). The average age of the patients who completed the survey was 74 years old. Thirty-five patients used their hearing aid over 3 years and less than 70% of them used it every day all day. Hearing aid was not actively used by 10 patients. Over the last year 51.92% of the patients underwent a hearing examination. Conclusions The bone anchored hearing aid was suggested to 2% of subjects and the cochlear implant was offered to 10 patients. The data analysis shows the need to educate and inform the elderly about alternative methods of hearing loss treatment.