Unmet hearing health care needs: The beaver dam offspring study

S.D. Nash, K.J. Cruickshanks, G.-H. Huang, B.E.K. Klein, R. Klein, F.J. Nieto and T.S. Tweed

American Journal of Public Health, 2013, vol. 103, issue 6, 1134-1139

Abstract: Objectives. We evaluated the use of hearing health care services (hearing testing and hearing aids) by adults aged 21 to 84 years. Methods. Hearing was tested and medical and hearing health histories were obtained as part of the Beaver Dam Offspring Study between 2005 and 2008 (n = 3285, mean age = 49 years). Results. Of the cohort, 34% (55% of participants aged 70 years) had a hearing test in the past 5 years. In multivariate modeling, older age, male gender, occupation, occupational noise, and having talked with a doctor about a hearing problem were independently associated with having had a hearing test in the past 5 years. Hearing aid use was low among participants with a moderate to severe hearing impairment (22.5%) and among participants with a hearing handicap (8.6%), as determined by the Hearing Handicap Inventory. Conclusions. Data support the need for improvement in hearing health care. Hearing aids' effectiveness is limited if patients do not acquire them or do not use them once acquired. Future research should focus on developing effective strategies for moving patients from diagnosis to treatment.

Keywords: adult; age; aged; article; auditory rehabilitation; cohort analysis; female; health service; hearing aid; hearing disorder; hearing test; human; industrial noise; male; middle aged; needs assessment; prevalence; questionnaire; sex difference; statistics; United States; utilization review; very elderly, Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cohort Studies; Correction of Hearing Impairment; Female; Health Services; Hearing Aids; Hearing Disorders; Hearing Tests; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Needs Assessment; Noise, Occupational; Prevalence; Questionnaires; Sex Factors; Wisconsin; Young Adult (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301031

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.301031_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301031

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().