[Age connected hearing disorders (presbyacusis) as a social problem].

The data of World Health Organization anticipate very rapid growth of percentage participation of elderly people in the population on the whole world. In Poland, in the year 2005, the percentage of people in the "post productive" age (women over 60 years, men over 65 years) was 15,32% of population, the expected data in 2020 is about 16%. The problem of this group becomes very essential social question. One of very important vital difficulties of that particular age is the problem with verbal communication, caused by the hearing disorders, very often stated in the older population. The hearing disorders (presbyacusis) are characterized by difficulties in speech understanding, the so called "social deafness", which often is a cause of psychical changes and isolation of persons with such hearing impairment. Because of its character, presbyacusis is very difficult in hearing rehabilitation. A new method of selection and fitting of hearing aids, adapted to the specificity of hearing disorders of older people is discussed.