Progression of hearing loss and choice of hearing aids by patients in their 60s, 70s, and 80s and older: experience in the Japanese super-aged era

Abstract

Background: Demographic data of patients with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in super-aged societies are still limited.

Aims/objectives: To report audiometric statistics of SNHL and hearing aid (HA) use in patients in their 60s, 70s, and 80s and older during the super-aged era.

Material and methods: Medical charts and audiograms of 2064 older patients with SNHL who visited a Japanese University Hospital in 2007–2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Among 270 patients referred to the HA service unit (HASU), the percentage of final decisions to continue using HAs was calculated.

Results: The average pure tone thresholds on initial visit to the clinic were 56.9, 60.6, 69.4, and 82.4 dB HL in patients in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, respectively. The rates of progression were 0.25, 0.87, 1.19, and 1.37 dB/year in patients in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, respectively. The percentage of patients in HASU who chose to use HAs did not differ among the 60s (59.3%), 70s (51.2%), and 80s and older (58.2%).

Conclusions and significance: The clinical picture of patients with SNHL in their 70s and 80s differs because progression accelerates exponentially through these ages. HAs can be recommended to older adult patients in all the age groups.

背景：老龄社会中感觉神经性听力损失（SNHL）患者的人口统计学数据仍然有限。

目的：报告超龄时代60、70、80和80岁以上SNHL患者的听力统计以及他们的助听器（HA）使用。

资料和方法：回顾性分析了2007年至2018年在日本大学医院就诊的2064例SNHL老年患者的病历图和听力图。在转诊至HA服务单位（HASU）的270名患者中, 计算了最终决定继续使用HA的百分比。

结果：60岁、70岁、80岁和90岁患者初诊时的平均纯音阈值分别为56.9、60.6、69.4和82.4dB HL。50岁、60岁、70岁和80岁患者的发展速率分别为每年0.25、0.87、1.19和1.37 dB 。在HASU, 在60岁（59.3％）、70岁（51.2％）和80岁及以上（58.2％）的患者群之中, 选择使用HA的患者百分比没有差异。

结论和意义：70岁和80岁SNHL患者的临床表现不同, 因为随着他们的年龄增长, 病情发展呈指数级。可以向所有年龄组的老年患者推荐使用HA。

Keywords:

• Sensorineural hearing loss
• presbycusis
• hearing aid
• hearing threshold
• super-aged society
• Japan

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.