Screening of ear in adults by questionnaire

Summary

Introduction:
Individuals with hearing defects represent a very heterogeneous group. It is due to the fact that each hearing defect has its own importance and different impact on the person with the defect. The symptoms of hearing loss develop slowly and creepingly. If the hearing defect is not treated, it can deepen and influence the individuality of the person. The aim of this work was to verify, whether the hearing defect can be uncovered in the doctor’s office by a short standardized questionnaire.

Methods:
The observation descriptive study provided information about the health state and hearing threshold of adult responders. The hearing was examined by audiometric examination. The authors examined the mean loss in the dB of the better hearing ear at the 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz frequencies. Each patient filled out the questionnaire concerning subjective perception of hearing handicap Hearing Handicap Inventory (HHI) kin a shortened version with 10 questions. The data were described by basic descriptive statistics. The statistical tests were evaluated at the 5% level of significance.

Results:
The group included 27,713 persons, 52.8% of the women (SD = 17.5). The mean age was 53.9 (SD = 18.88). The average hearing loss according to tone audiometry up to 25 dB affected 67.74% of individuals, light hearing loss (hardness of hearing) affected 20.38% of subjects. The average hearing losses of 41–68 dB were determined in 10.44%, the losses of 61–80 dB were in 1.23 of subjects and over 80dB affected 0.23% of the responders. There was a significant positive relationship between resulting score of hearing handicap and average losses according to tone audiometry on the better hearing ear, rs = 0.739 (p < 0.001).

The sensitivity of HHI in responders with average hearing loss more than 41dB was 93% and sensitivity was 80%. The abbreviated version of HHI revealed that the risk of hearing handicap increases with age. In case of a rough the risk is higher for women and for persons working in a noisy environment.

After adjustment the risk of hearing handicap is significantly higher for men and it was also higher for persons working in the noisy environment.

Conclusion:
Hearing Handicap Inventory (HHI) appears to be a possible screening tool to uncover hearing problems within the framework of preventive examinations by family physician. It is a simple, cheap and not time-consuming test, which determines emotional and social impact of hearing loss in common daily activities. A timely diagnosis and therapy of hearing loss could help to many persons with hearing defects to maintain a good quality of life for a longest possible period of time

Keywords:
hearing screening – adults – hard of hearing – sensitivity – specificity – Hearing Handicap Inventory (HHI)