Objectives: To assess the effects of hearing impairment on health-service u
se in an elderly population, controlling for factors associated with hearin
g difficulties known to affect utilization. Methods: Diagnoses of hearing i
mpairment, depression, and chronic illnesses were used in hierarchical regr
ession procedures to predict the volume and probability of any service use
among 1,436 randomly selected 65-year-old health maintenance organization m
embers. Results: Hearing impairment substantially increased the likelihood
of making at least one visit to a health care provider (OR = 3.31,95%; CI =
1.55-7.06). Among those who made such visits, however, hearing impairment
did not lead to use of additional services despite expectations to the cont
rary. Discussion: Further research should explore whether underutilization
of services exists, and, if so, whether it stems from clinician or patient
attitudes about the seriousness of hearing impairment, from a paucity of av
ailable treatment strategies, or from some combination of these and other f
actors.