UNLABELLED The number of people with impaired hearing is increasing; knowing its magnitude is essential for public health. OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence and determinants of impaired hearing in Itajaí/SC. METHODS A population-based survey based on a World Health Organization protocol. Field research was carried out from July 2008 to 2011. Procedures for evaluating hearing in households: ...

Because hearing is accomplished by the brain (with neural input from the cochlea), presbyacusis can be ultimately accounted for by changes in brain activity that accompany aging. The anatomic and physiologic changes that accompany aging are of two basic types: the central effects of biological aging (CEBA) and the central effects of peripheral pathology (CEPP). Research using inbred mice and ot...

Twenty-one elderly patients with dizziness underwent a comprehensive medical and otoneurological evaluation. The majority had vertigo, limited mobility and restricted neck movements. Poor visual acuity, postural hypotension and presbyacusis were also frequent findings. Electronystagmography revealed positional nystagmus in 12, disordered smooth pursuit in 18, and abnormal caloric responses in n...

After a right temporoparietal stroke, a left-handed man lost the ability to understand speech and environmental sounds but developed greater appreciation for music. The patient had preserved reading and writing but poor verbal comprehension. Slower speech, single syllable words, and minimal written cues greatly facilitated his verbal comprehension. On identifying environmental sounds, he made p...

Erber (1988) has claimed that one of the reasons for the ascendancy of hearing aids has been the loss of confidence in speechreading. Speechreading can be of value to those suffering from presbyacusis and other hearing disorders, in augmenting hearing aids and cochlear implants, for large numbers of people in developing countries who are unable to afford electronic aids, and for those in advanc...

As a means of partially distinguishing age effects and other risk factors in presbyacusis, hearing thresholds for 56- to 65-year-old participants screened for exclusion of selected risk factors were compared with thresholds for 48- to 55-year-old participants without the same risk factors. Hearing thresholds for both age groups were also compared with age-appropriate International Standards Org...