Opportunistic hearing screening in elderly inpatients
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Published on: March 24, 2023
Krishan Ramdoo1, Jordan Bowen1, Oliver T Dale1
1Geriatric/ENT Department, Royal Berkshire Hospital Foundation Trust, Reading, UK.
Objective:
To determine the prevalence of occult hearing loss in elderly inpatients, to evaluate feasibility of opportunistic hearing screening and to determine subsequent provision of hearing aids.
Materials And Methods:
Subjects (>65 years) were recruited from five elderly care wards. Hearing loss was detected by a ward-based hearing screen comprising patient-reported assessment of hearing disability and a whisper test. Subjects failing the whisper test or reporting hearing difficulties were offered formal audiological assessment.
Results:
Screening was performed on 51 patients aged between 70 and 95 years. Of the patients, 21 (41%) reported hearing loss and 16 (31%) failed the whisper test. A total of 37 patients (73%) were referred for audiological assessment with 17 (33%) found to have aidable hearing loss and 11 were fitted with hearing aids (22%).
Discussion:
This study highlights the high prevalence of occult hearing loss in elderly inpatients. Easy two-step screening can accurately identify patients with undiagnosed deafness resulting in significant proportions receiving hearing aids.
Key Sentences:
Approximately 14% of the elderly population use hearing aids despite a reported prevalence of deafness in up to 55%.The use of hearing aids is associated with an improvement in physical, emotional, mental and social well-being.An easy screening test for hearing loss consists of patient-reported hearing loss and a whisper test.Opportunistic screening of elderly inpatients resulted in referral of 73% of screened patients for formal audiology.Of the screened patients, 22% were provided with hearing aids.
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