Smith Jennifer L, Mitchell Paul, Wang Jie Jin, Leeder Stephen R
Australian Health Policy Institute, The University of Sydney, Victor Coppleson Building D02, NSW 2006, Australia.
Aust New Zealand Health Policy. 2005 Dec 13;2:31. doi: 10.1186/1743-8462-2-31.
As in all western countries, Australia's older population experiences high levels of hearing impairment coupled with relatively low levels of hearing device usage. Poor hearing diminishes the quality of life of affected individuals and their families. This paper discusses how to improve Australian hearing health policies in order to better combat this impairment amongst older Australians.
We searched the databases Medline, Meditext and Web of Science to find articles that discussed strategies and innovations to assist the hearing health of older people, and related this material to observations made during the Blue Mountains Hearing Study in NSW between 1997 and 2003.
The literature search identified five areas for inclusion in a comprehensive hearing health policy in Australia. These are: early intervention; addressing of hearing aid expense; the use of assisted listening devices; hearing rehabilitation, and; screening and education. Further research in Australia is critical if we are to develop a strong approach to the increasing prevalence of age-related hearing loss.
Australia needs to act now to address hearing impairment as it is a major cause of disability in those aged 55 and over. Federal and State governments should collaborate to construct a comprehensive hearing health policy that tackles poor levels of hearing health through early intervention, addressing hearing aid expense, encouraging the use of assisted listening devices, rehabilitation, screening and education. A good start would be to declare age related hearing impairment as a National Health Priority Area.
与所有西方国家一样，澳大利亚的老年人口听力障碍发生率很高，而听力设备的使用率相对较低。听力不佳会降低受影响个人及其家庭的生活质量。本文讨论了如何改进澳大利亚的听力健康政策，以便更好地应对澳大利亚老年人中的这种听力障碍问题。
我们检索了Medline、Meditext和科学网数据库，以查找讨论有助于老年人听力健康的策略和创新的文章，并将这些材料与1997年至2003年在新南威尔士州蓝山听力研究期间所做的观察结果相关联。
文献检索确定了澳大利亚全面听力健康政策中应包含的五个领域。这些领域是：早期干预；解决助听器费用问题；使用辅助听力设备；听力康复，以及；筛查和教育。如果我们要针对年龄相关性听力损失患病率上升制定强有力的应对方法，澳大利亚的进一步研究至关重要。
澳大利亚现在需要采取行动应对听力障碍问题，因为它是55岁及以上人群残疾的主要原因。联邦和州政府应合作制定一项全面的听力健康政策，通过早期干预、解决助听器费用问题、鼓励使用辅助听力设备、康复、筛查和教育来解决听力健康水平低下的问题。一个良好的开端是将年龄相关性听力障碍宣布为国家卫生优先领域。
