Implications of hearing impairment for elderly people in London and in Wales

This paper explores some of the social implications of hearing impairment in two different populations of elderly people as they affect help-seeking activity. In both populations we found reduced out-of-door activities due to hearing loss, poor insight into the existence of hearing loss, substantial denial of such loss, insufficient support from the general practitioner and poor uptake of rehabilitation services (the hearing aid). The need for services was found to be greater in the area of greater socio-economic deprivation. These findings must be viewed together with earlier work which found a significant association between hearing loss and depression in old age.