Hearing sensivity and handicap self-perception: a study on the elderly

Abstract

The goal of this study is to verify the correlation between hearing sensivity and handicap self-perception in elderly subjects. At the study, 112 elderly people were selected. All subjects answered the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly – Screening Version – HHIE-S, (Ventry, Weinstein, 1983), after that, they were submitted to the tone pure audiometry. The age range was from 65 to 91 years-old, the mean age was 73,5 years-old. The aged men had bigger hearing loss and higher hearing handicap perception than the aged women. There was a variability between handicap perception in the groups with normal hearing and hearing loss.