Hearing in geriatric long-stay patients

A study was made of the hearing of 197 geriatric long-stay patients aged 51 to 104 (mean 84) years. Information regarding hearing problems was collected by questionnaire, and hearing was tested with pure-tone audiometry after wax extraction. Only 55 patients were able to participate in the hearing test due to the high prevalence of dementia. For this category of patients it is probably necessary to use objective neurophysiological tests, such as brain stem audiometry and electrocochleography. All patients tested had considerably impaired hearing. Mean hearing loss in the speech area was 51 dB, indicating that a majority of the patients needed hearing aids. However, only one patient in 10 had such. Technical devices for amplification in the wards were scarce. It was evident that impaired hearing among geriatric long-stay patients was an underestimated and rather neglected problem, and a need for education among the nursing staff regarding communication problems was noted.