[Analysis of auditory function changes in presbycusis based on the SSQ]

Objective:To evaluate changes in auditory function among patients with presbycusis and to investigate the influence of age and hearing threshold on auditory capabilities. Methods:A total of 110 cases of presbycusis was enrolled and categorized into the following subgroups: mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, moderate-to-severe and above hearing loss. Additionally, 10 elderly subjects and 31 young subjects with normal hearing were selected as control groups. Pure-tone audiometry and the SSQ assessment were completed, yielding 4f-PTA, SSQ total scores, and scores of three dimensions: speech hearing, spatial hearing, and other qualities. Statistical analyses were performed using Welch ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, Spearman correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression. Results:Among the three dimensions, SSQ（speech） scored lowest, while SSQ（quality） scored highest. Within the SSQ（spatial） dimension, items 17 and 18 scored highest, while item 23 scored lowest. The SSQ total score and all three-dimension scores were lower in the presbycusis group than in the normal hearing group, exhibiting a decreasing trend with increasing hearing loss severity（P<0.001）. Further analysis of the impact of hearing loss severity and age on SSQ scores revealed significant negative correlations between total SSQ scores with hearing threshold in the presbycusis group（P<0.05）, alongside weak negative correlations with age（P<0.05）. Hearing loss demonstrated stronger predictive power for SSQ scores compared to age（VIF=1.218）. Conclusion:Presbycusis patients exhibit auditory processing impairments, with speech comprehension and spatial auditory processing being more severely affected as hearing loss progresses. Hearing threshold and age correlate with auditory processing deficits, with hearing thresholds being the predominant influencing factor.