SELF-REPORTED HEARING PROBLEMS IN DAILY-LIFE THROUGHOUT ADULTHOOD

The authors assessed age differences on self-reported hearing problems on the performance of auditory tasks in the natural environment. The Your Hearing questionnaire was administered to 265 respondents (aged 2 0-94 years). Both the degree and variability of self-reported hearing problems were found to increase significantly with age, including thos e associated with listening to speech under conditions of background n oise, the perception of normal and distorted speech, and the perceptio n of short segments of speech and the perception of high-pitched sound s. Experienced hearing problems were greater for Ss who judged their h earing as being of poor quality. Findings suggest that self-report mea sures can provide valuable insights into the impact of age-related hea ring disability on daily life that are not provided by more traditiona l laboratory-based studies.