Since hearing impairment in the elderly is common, has major adverse effects, those affected often fail to seek help and yet there are a number of effective devices available, several authors have emphasised the need for screening in the elderly.
We rectify such impairment by simple, validated, and reliable questionnaires which serve to identify those who are disabled as a result of their hearing loss such as the hearing handicap inventory for the elderly, and the forced whisper test are inexpensive and speedy tools which can be used in general practice.
Hearing impairment is among the top three such conditions along with arthritis and hypertension.There are two main types of hearing loss: conductive and sensorineural.Any impediment to the transmission of sound waves through the external ear canal and middle ear as far as the footplate of the stapes results in conductive hearing loss while Sensorineural hearing impairment results from a defect in the cochlea, the cochlear nerve or more rarely in the central neural pathways.