Elderly miss out on hearing aids

Hearing loss is potentially treatable

Many elderly people have problems hearing - but too few are provided with hearing aids, say researchers.

Others are let down by old technology.

A study by experts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine asked more than 32,000 people aged 75 and over about their hearing.

Forty two per cent said they had a little or a lot of difficulty hearing.

Almost 15,000 were given a whispered voice test to measure their hearing problems, and 23% failed.

More than half of those who failed the test did not have a hearing aid - but some 46% did.

[The research] highlights the ineffectiveness of current hearing aid provision

James Strachan, RNID

Only two thirds of those who did own a hearing aid said they used it regularly and many still had problems hearing in social settings even when they wore their aids.

Part of the problem was that people had been fitted with outdated analogue equipment that failed to solve their hearing difficulties.

Hearing loss can have a major impact on quality of life, and can be linked to depression if people become isolated, said the researchers.

However, it can be treated.

The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) said the study backed up what they had been saying for many years.

It said audiology services, already under immense pressure, needed to be modernised - and the provision of hearing aids also needed to be improved.

There are about 2m hearing aid users in the UK.

Social isolation

The research team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used data from the Medical Research Council General Practice Research Framework - a survey of people aged 75 or more from 106 practices in the UK.

Dr Liam Smeeth, one of the researchers, said the team were surprised at how many people did have hearing problems.

And he told BBC News Online hearing loss could affect people in many ways.

"It's quite strongly related to depression," he said.

"Sometimes it's difficult to judge the direction of these things, because people who are depressed may not be very motivated to do something about it [hearing loss].

"But hearing impairment is still related to depression and social isolation.

"It can also mean a lower quality of life than people with full hearing."

James Strachan, chief executive of the RNID, said "We are not surprised by this research.

"It highlights the ineffectiveness of current hearing aid provision, which leaves hundreds of thousands of elderly people feeling isolated, excluded and lacking independence.

"We now have the chance to change this. The solution is for a modernised NHS to provide cutting edge digital hearing aids, which can be adjusted to suit an individual's hearing loss and have the power to revolutionise people's lives."

The research is published in The Lancet.