Hearing impairment and hearing aid use in women over 65 years of age. Cross-sectional study of women in a large urban community.

OBJECTIVES

(i) To describe the prevalence of self-reported hearing impairment and level of hearing aid use in women aged 65 years and over living in the community; (ii) to provide comparison findings from the National Health Survey and the Survey of Disability and Ageing undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study of a large community population.

SETTING

Conducted as part of the Randwick Falls and Fractures Study, in Randwick a surburban area in eastern Sydney.

PARTICIPANTS

Four hundred and ninety-six women aged between 65 and 99 years (mean age, 74.6 years) took part in the study. The sample was representative of the population from which it was drawn.

RESULTS

We found a higher level of hearing difficulty than the levels reported in the Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys for women of comparative ages, which may reflect differences in the questions posed. The proportions with a hearing aid in the Randwick study and the Survey of Disability and Ageing were very similar (7.1% and 7.3% respectively). Of the one-third of the Randwick sample who reported a hearing difficulty, only half had been referred for audiometry and a quarter had been prescribed an aid. Only slightly more than a third of those who received an aid were regularly wearing it. Among the women with hearing difficulties, not using an aid was not associated with age, cognitive status or subjective health. There was a trend suggesting that those who did not use an aid had increased use of community support services. Women who had not received assistance with their hearing impairment had more difficulty shopping and relied more on family members.

CONCLUSION

Almost two-thirds of people prescribed a hearing aid were not wearing it regularly, denying themselves proven benefits in communication, social involvement and life satisfaction. The prescribing of these unused aids represents a huge waste of health resources. A program to increase hearing aid use by hearing impaired people may reduce the waste of health resources and the need for community support services. Such a program may greatly increase the life satisfaction for this very large group of disabled older people.