Department of Audiology, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Singapore.
Ann Acad Med Singap. 2017 Apr;46(4):145-154.
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hearing loss amongst the elderly population attending community services in Singapore. The usefulness of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening version (HHIE-S) in detecting hearing loss was also investigated.
Pure-tone audiometry was carried out on a randomly recruited cohort of people (n = 338) over 60 years old and who were attending rehabilitation and social day care services for senior citizens at St Luke's Elder Care centres located throughout the city. Prior to the hearing test, subjects were administered the HHIE-S questionnaire, which was translated into the language they were most conversant in.
The study cohort showed mean pure-tone average at speech frequencies (0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz; 4-frequency average hearing level [4FA HL]) of the subjects' better hearing ear that has worsened with age. The percentage of the elderly with disabling hearing impairment (4FA >40 dB HL) was 9.1% (60 to 69 years old), 22.0% (70 to 79 years old), 35.7% (80 years old and above). Across all age groups, males had significantly poorer thresholds at 4 kHz than females. When adjusted for the demographic profile of the country, the prevalence of hearing loss (4FA >25 dB HL) and disabling hearing impairment (4FA >40 dB HL) amongst the elderly in Singapore was 63.7% and 16.2%, respectively. We estimate that there are currently 422,000 elderly with hearing loss greater than 25dB HL and over 100,000 elderly with disabling hearing loss of over 40 dB HL. Of subjects with a disabling hearing impairment, only 7.5% used hearing aids. The use of self-reporting HHIE-S showed poor sensitivity in detecting hearing loss of various severities amongst the elderly.
These data provide estimates of the prevalence and severity of hearing loss in older persons in Singapore and suggest that more can be done to help the elderly recognise, acknowledge and address hearing loss in the country.
本研究旨在确定在新加坡社区服务中老年人的听力损失患病率。还研究了老年人听力障碍筛查版（HHIE-S）在检测听力损失方面的有效性。
对随机招募的一组年龄在 60 岁以上且在全市圣卢克老年护理中心的康复和社会日间护理服务中心接受治疗的人群（n=338）进行纯音测听。在听力测试之前，受试者接受了 HHIE-S 问卷的测试，该问卷被翻译成他们最熟悉的语言。
研究队列显示，受试者较好耳朵的言语频率平均纯音听阈（0.5、1、2 和 4 kHz；4 个频率平均听力水平 [4FA HL]）随着年龄的增长而恶化。有残疾听力障碍（4FA >40dB HL）的老年人比例为 9.1%（60-69 岁）、22.0%（70-79 岁）、35.7%（80 岁及以上）。在所有年龄组中，男性在 4 kHz 时的阈值明显差于女性。在考虑到国家人口统计特征后，新加坡老年人听力损失（4FA >25dB HL）和残疾性听力障碍（4FA >40dB HL）的患病率分别为 63.7%和 16.2%。我们估计，目前有 422,000 名老年人听力损失大于 25dB HL，超过 100,000 名老年人有超过 40dB HL 的残疾性听力损失。在有残疾性听力障碍的患者中，只有 7.5%使用了助听器。使用自我报告的 HHIE-S 在检测老年人各种严重程度的听力损失方面显示出较差的敏感性。
这些数据提供了新加坡老年人听力损失的患病率和严重程度的估计，并表明可以采取更多措施帮助老年人认识、承认和解决该国的听力损失问题。
