Background:
Hearing impairment affects communication and reduces participation and
inclusion in society on several levels. Hearing impairment can be mild (26–40
dB HL), moderate (41–70 dB HL), severe (71–90 dB HL), or profound (more than 91
dB HL). Audiological rehabilitation involves various professionals such as
audiologists, hearing rehabilitation educators, welfare officers,
psychologists, physicians, and technicians. To say that a patient has
participated in group rehabilitation, the patient must have been taught in a
group by several hearing care professionals.
Purpose: The
purpose of this study was to identify and report demographic data of patients
with severe to profound hearing loss, assess participation in audiological
rehabilitation and analyze the benefits of various rehabilitation methods.
Materials and
Methods: Data on 4286 patients with severe to profound hearing impairments
registered in the Swedish Quality Register of Otorhinolaryngology over a period
from 2006–2015 were studied. Demographic data, gender differences, audiological
rehabilitation and benefits of the rehabilitation were analyzed. Statistical
calculations were performed with the IBMVR SPSSVR Statistics version 24. The
data from the general questionnaire and the QoL parameters were analyzed using
unpaired t-tests, and the categorical data were analyzed using chi-square
tests.
Results: The
study comprises 50.3% (n=2157) males and 49.7% (n=2129) females, with a mean
age of 69 years (SD 17.3). Group rehabilitation and visits to a hearing rehabilitation
educator provided the most benefits in audiological rehabilitation. Only 40.5%
of the patients received extended audiological rehabilitation, of which 54.5%
were women. A total of 9.5% of patients participated in group rehabilitation,
with 59.5% being women. Women also visited technicians, welfare officers,
hearing rehabilitation educators, psychologists, physicians and ENT specialists
and received communication rehabilitation in a group and fit with cochlear
implants significantly more often than did men.
Conclusions: The
study emphasizes the importance of being given the opportunity to participate
in group rehabilitation and meet a hearing rehabilitation educator to
experience the benefits of hearing rehabilitation. In the present study,
significantly more women than men received audiological rehabilitation with
various hearing care professionals. There is a need to offer extended
audiological rehabilitation, especially in terms of gender differences, to
provide the same impact for women and men.
Implications for
Rehabilitation: Significantly more women than men with severe to profound
hearing impairment receive audiological rehabilitation. Hearing impairment
appears to have a significantly more negative impact on women’s quality of life
than men’s. It is important to offer extended audiological rehabilitation to
all patients with severe to profound hearing loss to obtain equal hearing
health care regardless of gender.
Author(s)details:-
Satu Turunen-Taheri
Department of CLINTEC, Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and Department of Audiology and
Neurotology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Per-Inge Carlsson
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Central Hospital, Karlstad, Sweden and
Audiological Research Center, Orebro University Hospital, Sweden.
Sten Hellstrom
Department of CLINTEC, Division of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and Department of Audiology and
Neurotology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Please See the book
here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/acmms/v5/2856
