[Hearing in the elderly and hearing aids]

Statistically progressive deteriorations in the population, due more to pathological impairments than to aging properly speaking, must be distinguished from presbycusis. The onset of auditive impairment varies with genetic factors. In a statistical audiometric study, it is found that the better the hearing of a subject before the impact of presbycusis, the better the chances are of maintaining hearing; the opposite applies in the case of major auditive deterioration. Loss of hearing due to presbycusis affects all frequencies. The elderly patient has a better social value of hearing in the phonetic test than that expected from tonal audiometry, except in the case of disorders of central auditive integration.