HEARING IMPAIRMENT - SPECIAL NEEDS OF THE ELDERLY

Within this paper we have considered some of the particular disabiliti es and handicaps commonly experienced by elderly hearing-impaired peop le as compared with younger individuals. We examined their ratings of their disability and handicap and found that both disability and handi cap increased more rapidly with increasing hearing loss in younger tha n in older patients. We have finally considered the strategies used by older people to cope with hearing loss and found them more likely to withdraw from difficult listening situations or to interrupt the speak er, but less likely to position themselves to hear better.