PURPOSE:
to verify whether the presence and level of hearing loss in adults and elderly as well as their performance in tests are linked to their gender, age and cognitive tracking.
METHODS:
subjects with ages between 52 and 92 years old took part in this study. They all answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and went through Mini-Mental State Examination as well as pure-tone threshold audiometry.
RESULTS:
out of the 90 individuals, 22 (24,4%) were male and 68 (75,6%) were female. It was seen that only 11 right ears and 11 left ears presented normal auditory thresholds. It was possible to verify that age was indeed linked to the auditory thresholds increase, making it clear that older individuals present higher levels of hearing loss (p<0,005). There was no statistical difference between the auditory thresholds of male and female (p=0,1). It was observed that 80% of the individuals whose cognitive tracking results were normal presented least affected auditory thresholds, while 60% of those whose cognitive tracking results were altered presented a higher level of hearing loss. It is possible to identify a relation between these audiological findings and the cognitive tracking test results, proving that the individuals with the altered Mini-Mental State Examination results present higher hearing loss (p<0,001).
CONCLUSION:
there was an association between the presence and degree of hearing loss with the result of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Increasing age was proportional to the increase in hearing thresholds. There was no association between gender and hearing in the sample.
Hearing ; Loss; Elderly; Cognition
