Forty years on: a new national study of hearing in England and implications for global hearing health policy

Dalia Tsimpida, PhD, CPsychol, AFBPsS, FHEA, Maria Panagioti, Evan Kontopantelis

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Abstract

Abstract
Objective
We aimed to update the prevalence estimates of hearing loss in older adults in England using a nationally representative sample of adults aged 50 years old and older.

Design
A comparative cross-sectional study design was implemented. Hearing loss was defined as ≥35 dB HL at 3.0 kHz, as measured via Hearcheck in the better-hearing ear.

Study sample
We compared the estimates based on the English census in 2015 to estimates from psychoacoustic hearing data available for 8,263 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Wave 7 (2014–2015).

Results
Marked regional variability in hearing loss prevalence was revealed among participants with similar age profiles. The regional differences in hearing outcomes reached up to 13.53% in those belonging to the 71–80 years old group; the prevalence of hearing loss was 49.22% in the North East of England (95%CI 48.0–50.4), versus 35.69% in the South East (95%CI 34.8–36.50).
Original languageEnglish
JournalInternational Journal of Audiology
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jan 2022

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