Quality of life and its determinants among people over 60 years of age, showing moderate hearing impairment

Introduction

With increasing age, the frequency and degree of hearing impairment increases. This is determined by the disappearance of spiral ganglion cells, atherosclerosis of the middle ear, as well as changes in the CNS. One of the ways to improve hearing is the apparatus of the hearing organ application of an hearing aid. Their individual adaptation to the needs of each patient positively affects many aspects of the patient’s life in later self-evaluation. Hearing aids tailored to individual patients’ needs positively affect many aspects of patients’s lives and their self-evaluation.

Aim

The aim of the presented research is to examine the quality of life in a group of people over 60 exhibiting moderate hearing impairment and indicate the selected factors determining this quality.

Method and material

The study was longitudinal and was carried out using a diagnostic survey. The persons qualified for the tests completed the survey (i.e. the SF-36 self-assessment of life quality questionnaire, Satisfaction Scale with Life and General Mood Scale) twice, i.e. after making a decision about hearing aid and 60 days after this inter¬vention. The statistical analysis of the results was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 program. The study group consisted of 60 people.

Results

The quality of life in the study group was high, as was the self-assessment of life satisfaction. Two-fold measurement of both variables in the longitudinal study indicated a significant increase in life satisfaction in the post- study, in contrast to the observed decrease in the quality of life. In the full model of multiple regression, the self-assessment of life satisfaction, age and intervention in the form of the hearing aid were themost important factors for high quality of life. After the stepwise elimination of variables, predicators of high quality of life have emerged.

Conclusion

1.People after 60 with moderate hearing impairment are characterized by high self-assessment of quality of life.

2.Younger age and satisfaction with life are predictors of high quality of life.

3.Hearing apparatus aid positively affects the social and emotional functioning of people with hearing impairments.