Self-reported hearing difficulty and audiometric thresholds in nursing home residents.

BACKGROUND

Nursing home practitioners usually assess the general health and functional abilities of each resident at the time of admission. If audiometric screening is not routinely available, assessment of the resident's hearing status will probably consist only of asking questions about hearing difficulty. In this study we explored which questions, when answered positively, were most strongly associated with moderate or severe hearing impairment.

METHODS

A total of 198 newly admitted nursing home residents answered questions regarding their hearing in common listening situations, and then underwent audiometric assessment.

RESULTS

Fifty-four percent of the residents had a pure tone average hearing level of > 25 dB at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz and were therefore considered impaired. A single general question regarding hearing had a sensitivity of 69% in determining the presence of such impairment. Three specific questions which assessed hearing--in a group, while watching television, and while on the telephone--had a collective sensitivity of 83%. Asking the three questions was significantly (P = .003) more effective than asking only the general question.

CONCLUSIONS

A set of specific questions significantly improved the identification of residents whose hearing loss affected their daily living activities compared with the use of a single hearing loss question.