Herbst K G, Humphrey C
J R Coll Gen Pract. 1981 Mar;31(224):155-60.
Using pure tone audiometry, we assessed the prevalence of hearing impairment in a sample of elderly people living at home and aged 70 or more. Deafness was defined as an average loss over the speech frequencies at 1 kHz, 2 kHz and 4 kHz of 35 db or more in the better ear. We found that 60 per cent of the sample were deaf. This figure is substantially higher than previous estimates arrived at without the use of audiometry. We discuss some possible reasons for this discrepancy and consider the implications of this level of prevalence of hearing impairment for the health care of the elderly.
我们使用纯音听力测定法，对70岁及以上居家老年人样本中的听力障碍患病率进行了评估。耳聋被定义为较好耳在1千赫、2千赫和4千赫语音频率上的平均听力损失达到35分贝或更高。我们发现该样本中有60%的人耳聋。这一数字大大高于以往未使用听力测定法得出的估计值。我们讨论了造成这种差异的一些可能原因，并考虑了这种听力障碍患病率水平对老年人医疗保健的影响。
