Self-reported hearing handicap in adults aged 55 to 81 years is modulated by hearing abilities, frailty, mental health, and willingness to use hearing aids

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to predict outcomes of the HHI questionnaire (Hearing Handicap Inventory) using individual variables beyond pure-tone hearing thresholds.

Design

An extensive health-related test battery was applied including a general anamnesis, questionnaires, audiological measures, examination of visual acuity, balance, and cognition, as well as tactile- and motor skills. Based on the self-assessment of health variables and different sensory and cognitive performance measures, a frailty index was calculated to describe the health status of the participants. A stepwise linear regression analysis was conducted to predict HHI scores.

Study sample

A mixed sample (N = 212) of 55- to 81-year-old, participants with different hearing and aiding status completed the test battery.

Results

The regression analysis showed statistically significant contributions of pure-tone hearing thresholds, speech recognition in noise, age, frailty, mental health, and the willingness to use hearing aids on HHIE outcomes.

Conclusions

Self-reported hearing handicap assessed with the HHI questionnaire reflects various individual variables additionally to pure-tone hearing loss and speech recognition in noise. It is necessary to be aware of the influences of age and health-related variables on HHI scores when using it in research as well as in clinical settings.

Keywords:

• Aging
• behavioural measures
• HHIE
• hearing health

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Annäus Wiltfang, Olga Schwarz, and Annika Morgenstern for conducting the measurements, and Alina Baltus for the expert’s report on the neuropsychological test outcomes. Parts of the data were presented at the Fourth International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication (Linköping, 2017). The procedure of retrospective frailty index calculation was presented at the annual meeting of the German Audiological Society (DGA; Halle (Saale), 2018). English language support was provided by http://www.stels-ol.de/.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Supported by the research professorship “Audiologie, Kognition und Sinnesleistungen im Alter (AKOSIA)”, in cooperation with the KOMUS study financed by Sonova AG (Stäfa, Switzerland).