Prevalence of hearing impairment in elderly patients referred to the audiology service in Manaus, Amazon

Objective: To describe the audiological findings (type, audiometric configuration, degree of hearing loss) and its association with gender and age in subjects aged over 60 years, treated at outpatient clinic of specialties of Manaus. Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological descriptive study conducted with the universe of elderly who underwent audiometry from January to December 2010, with a total of 574 subjects. To classify the type, degree and configuration of hearing loss, we used the criteria adopted by Santos & Russo, Davis & Silverman and Silman & Silverman, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using measures of central tendency, dispersion and frequency distributions. To check for statistically significant differences, we used the chi-square test, with a significance level of 5% (p ≤ 0.05). Results: The prevalence of 94.4% (n = 542) of hearing loss, sensorineural predominantly (85.5%, n = 491) and mild (60%, n = 188) in females and degree moderate or greater in males (50%, n = 130), downward sloping (54.2%, n = 311) in both sexes. The percentage of normality was low, with 261 (3.4%) for men and 313 (7.3%) for women. Conclusion: The prevalence of hearing loss increased with age, being equal to 100% in individuals 80 years or older, and men have the worst hearing thresholds. There is need for greater awareness about hearing loss in the elderly, needing additional population-based and multicentric studies in order to support public policies.