Malaysian Family Physician (Jan 2010)

SELF REPORTED HEARING LOSS AMONG ELDERLY MALAYSIANS

  • MAJMIN SH,
  • AZIMAH MN,
  • LEE VKM,
  • ZAITUN A,
  • LEELAVATHI M,
  • ROSDINA AK,
  • MOHD KA

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 2
pp. 91 – 94

Abstract

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A cross-sectional study was conducted on patients attending a primary care facility to determine the prevalence of self reported hearing loss using a single question, “Do you have hearing loss?” Pure tone audiometry was performed to compare the accuracy of the self report. A total of 111 patients were recruited. The prevalence of self reported hearing loss using a single question and pure tone audiometry was 24.3% and 36.9% respectively. By using pure tone audiometry at a cut-off-level of 25 dBHL (decibels Hearing level), the single question yielded a sensitivity of 41.4% and specificity of 85.0%. The single question performed better at 40 dBHL pure tone audiometry with sensitivity of 55.0% and specificity of 82.0%. In conclusion, the prevalence of hearing loss in elderly was high and the single question self reported hearing loss performed satisfactorily with moderate hearing loss.

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