2019 Volume 62 Issue 2 Pages 134-141
In 2017, district welfare officers met the elderly living alone and performed a questionnaire survey about subjective hearing loss, usage of hearing aids, knowledge of recent news, and so on, in the Daitoku area (population 11000) in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. There were 161 persons who hoped looked forward to the visits of the district welfare officer to their home, and the response rate was 100%. The subjects ranged in age from 66 to 99 years (average 80.7 years) and 85% were female. The subjective hearing was significantly worse in the elderly in their nineties than in those in their eighties, and similarly worse in the elderly in their eighties than in those in their seventies. Fourteen persons reported using hearing aids - a half of them continuously and a half of them sometimes. Only seven of the hearing aid users had consulted otolaryngologists about their hearing loss.
When they are unaware of any recent news, the possibility of social isolation or dementia should be considered. The incorrect reply rate to questions about recent news was closely associated with aging and significantly higher in the subjects in their nineties than in those in their eighties. It was found that the incorrect reply rate was influenced independently by subjective hearing loss.
