Gender differences in improvement of older-person-specific quality of life after hearing-aid fitting

• Published in: Disability and health journal 2019-04, Vol.12 (2), p.209-213
• Main Authors: Joanovič, Eva, Kisvetrová, Helena, Nemček, Dagmar, Kurková, Petra, Švejdíková, Barbora, Zapletalová, Jana, Yamada, Yukari
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Disabled Persons - psychology; Female; Hearing Aids - psychology; Hearing Loss - rehabilitation; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Quality of Life - psychology; Sex Factors
• ISSN: 1936-6574; 1876-7583
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2018.08.010

Age-related hearing loss is the third most common reason for disability in the world and has a significant impact on quality of life (QoL) amongst older adults. To determine how the QoL assessment in older-person-specific domains differs between older men and women with age-related hearing loss before and after hearing-aid fittings. The present study was carried out with 105 hearing-impaired outpatients (aged ≥ 60 years) before and after hearing-aid fittings at the University Hospital Olomouc, Czech Republic. The instrument used was the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Older Adults module (WHOQOL-Old). It was completed before hearing-aid fittings and after the first check-up hearing-aid adjustment. The Wilcoxon paired test multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate changes in the QoL after hearing-aid fittings. The distributions of men a women into three subgroups, improved, unchanged, and worsened in each domain, were compared using Fisher's exact test. A significant QoL improvement when fitting a hearing-aid in the area of Sensory abilities was confirmed in both men and women (p