Prevalence & characteristics of severe and profound hearing loss in adults in a UK National Health Service clinic

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of severe and profound hearing loss in a clinical population and to report the audiological and hearing-aid characteristics for this group, as well as outcome measures from use of hearing aids. Design: A retrospective observational study initially, followed by a postal Glasgow health status inventory (GHSI) to establish the patients functional outcomes. Study sample: A clinical database of 32 781 cases was interrogated from which 2199 cases of severe /profound hearing loss were identified. From these, an adult sample stratified in terms of age and gender of n = 302 was contacted. Results: An estimated 6.7% of the local clinical population and 0.7% of the general population were found to have hearing > 70 dB averaged over 0.5, 1, and 2 kHz. Most patients were fitted with bilateral hearing aids, using a non-linear prescription, and as a group they reported a high level of social support. Conclusions: This study has estimated the prevalence of severe and profound hearing loss as 6.7% of the clinical population, and 0.7% of the general population. This is consistent with previous work, although it probably underestimates the prevalence. Further work is indicated to strengthen the estimate.

Key Words::

• Prevalence
• severe and profound hearing loss
• hearing aids
• demographics;
• Glasgow health status inventory

Acknowledgements

Safety and ethical approval was sought and granted from De Montfort University on the 10th October 2008. NHS ethical approval was not required as the National Research Ethics Service (NRES) classified this study as a service evaluation.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.