Hearing and quality of life in older adults.
OBJECTIVES
We assessed quality of life (QoL) in older adults with and without hearing loss (HL) and studied how hearing aids were associated with QoL. We hypothesized participants with normal hearing would have significantly better QoL than participants with HL and hearing aids, and participants with HL but no aids would have the worst QoL.


METHOD
At the University of Alabama and rural public health departments in surrounding counties, we tested 100 males and females aged 60-87 using pure-tone audiometry. They completed Short Form-36 and Medical Outcome Study assessments. We analyzed data with MANCOVA (covariate income).


RESULTS
Participants without hearing aids had significantly poorer QoL than participants with normal hearing, who did not significantly differ from participants with aids. General health drove the difference.


CONCLUSIONS
Hearing aids are associated with better QoL than having HL and going without aids. Clinical psychologists can improve coping among those with HL and motivate hearing aid use.
['Hyams|Adriana V|AV|0000-0001-9839-8704', 'Hay-McCutcheon|Marcia|M|', 'Scogin|Forrest|F|']
D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000375:Aging D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone D005260:Female D006310:Hearing Aids D034381:Hearing Loss D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D011788:Quality of Life
hearing quality of life older adults hearing loss hearing aid