Purpose
: To identify the profile of the elderly population referred for hearing aids fitting in a public hospital, regarding sociodemographic characteristics, general and hearing health.
Methods
: The data of 191 elderly were collected from medical records. The analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, frequency distribution and analysis of variance.
Results
: There was a predominance of female participants, who were born in São Paulo, Caucasians, with proper residence, years of education between zero and four years, no occupation labor, income between zero and three salaries, regular economic situation and lack of private healthcare insurance. Most referrals came from São Paulo Hospital. Patients spend more than 60 minutes on average to make the journey from his residence to the clinic. Relationship between perception of regular or poor health and chronic diseases, dizziness, tinnitus, hearing loss progression, occurrence of visual difficulties, transportation and time of auditory deprivation observed in this study. Type, level and audiometric configuration with sensorineural, moderate and downward sloping predominance. Regarding the selection of hearing aids, predominated BTEs hearing aids, skeleton and canal ear molds.
Conclusion
: The profile of the elderly obtained in this study leads to important insights about accessibility to health services and health education.
Speech; Language and Hearing Sciences; Hearing aids; Health profile; Aged; Health services needs and demand