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

Laura Turton*ab & Pauline Smithcda Hearing Link, Eastbourne, UKb The Centre for Hearing & Balance Disorders, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UKc Hearing Services Department, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester, UKd Medical Research Council Hearing and Communication Group, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UKCorrespondence: Laura Turton, Hearing Link, 27–28, The Waterfront, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 5UZ, UK. E-mail:laura.turton@hearinglink.orgAbstractObjective: 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.