Audiological study of an elderly Brazilian population.

UNLABELLED: The Brazilian elderly population is growing, and already represents 8,6% of our total population. Environmental factors, lifestyle, gender and genetics impact the development of presbycusis, which reduces quality of life.

AIM: investigate audiologic and vestibular complaints in the elderly; perform tonal audiometry and check to see if there are differences between genders.

STUDY: Cross-sectional clinical prospective study.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

320 elderly patients (160 men and 160 women) were submitted to audiologic interview and tonal audiometry. The results were statistically analyzed by the following methods: ANOVA, Mann-Whitney and Chi-Squared.

RESULTS

audiologic and vestibular complaints (hearing loss, tinnitus, ear fullness, dizziness) were similar between the genders (except for dizziness: p<0,05); tonal audiometry showed a significant difference, with hearing loss in the high frequencies among men; and among women the curves were descending and flat. These results were statistically significant (P<0,001).

CONCLUSION

our results lead us to conclude that, when the genders are compared, hearing loss in the elderly has similar symptoms; however, there are significant differences in tonal audiometry.