A Longitudinal Study of Hearing Loss in Older People

Audiometric data and subjects' opinions about change in their hearing have been collected from 113 men and 148 women who were those members of a random sample of older people examined on three occasions in a longitudinal study of persons aged 62-90 years at entry to the study. Increases in hearing loss were small after one year but greater after 5 years especially at higher sound frequencies. Some subjects showed increased loss at all frequencies measured. Linear regressions were used to show that, at 4,000 c.p.s. the greater the hearing loss at the original examination, the smaller would be the change over five years. The regressions, using data from frequencies of 1,000 c.p.s. and 4,000 c.p.s. showed age effects, i.e. increased loss over five years as age at entry increased, only in men at 1,000 c.p.s. Subjects who thought their hearing had deteriorated had greater, but not significant, increases in mean hearing loss than those who did not so complain. This finding may reflect the lack of correspondence between audiometry and understanding of speech.