TUESDAY, Dec. 30, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A new University of Florida study has shattered the stereotype of hard-of-hearing seniors who refuse to admit their disability.
The study found only 5 percent of a group of seniors asked about their hearing had suffered a hearing loss and denied having the problem.
"Audiologists have thought for years that older people deny their hearing loss by saying kids today don't speak clearly or people mumble, in short blaming their inability to hear on everybody else," says lead researcher Patricia Kricos, a professor of communication sciences and disorders. "But our study found that a majority do acknowledge they have a hearing loss."
Researchers administered questionnaires to 91 people aged 65 or older about whether they had any hearing loss. They then tested people's hearing and handed out a follow-up 10-question survey about the effects hearing loss had on their lives.
Sixty-two percent of the participants admitted a hearing loss. Of the remaining 35 participants, only 5 percent had a hearing loss and denied it.
Hearing loss carries a stigma, but Kricos figures that's less true than in the past among elderly people.
"There's a whole different attitude about aging today, and we're going to see it even more with this new generation of baby boomers coming up," she says. "They are not going to be content to sit on the front porch rocker and watch the world go by.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about hearing loss in senior citizens.
