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

BACKGROUND: 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. OBJECTIVE: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: A significant QoL improvement when fitting a hearing-aid in the area of Sensory abilities was confirmed in both men and women (p < 0.001). In Autonomy, a significant improvement was recorded only amongst men (p = 0.010). In Past, present and future activities and Social participation, a significant improvement was only recorded amongst women (p = 0.029; p = 0.001). Significant differences were revealed between men and women in changes for Sensory Abilities (p = 0.019), Social Participation (p = 0.036) and Intimacy (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that there are gender differences in QoL improvement amongst people with age-related hearing loss after hearing-aid fitting.

Improvement of older-person-specific QOL after hearing aid fitting and its relation to social interaction.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate whether hearing aids use is associated with improvement of older-person-specific QOL and whether social interactions modify the association. METHODS: The WHOQOL-OLD questionnaire was answered by 105 older adults aged 60 to 90 years who were newly fitted hearing aids on the day of fitting and at 2 - 6 months afterward. The associations between the daily hours of hearing aid usage and social relations with changes in the WHOQOL-OLD total score after hearing aids fitting were estimated adjusting for possible confounders. RESULTS: Older persons with hearing loss experienced significant increases in WHOQOL-OLD total score after hearing aid fitting. Regular use of hearing aid was associated with a greater increase in the total score. The combined categorical variable of social relations and hearing aid usage revealed no separate effects of these two variables, but a combined effect; only those with frequent social interactions who used their hearing aid regularly had a significantly greater increase in WHOQOL-OLD total score. CONCLUSION: This study's findings indicate that hearing aid fitting may be associated with a subsequent improvement in older-person-specific QOL by improvements in hearing due to the hearing aid, and possibly enhanced communication opportunities.