Hearing impairment among adults - Report of a joint (Nordic-British) project

Danish Centre for Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment, Finnish Office for Health Care Technology Assessment, Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, Norwegian Centre for Health Technology Assessment, Medical Research Council
Record ID 32002000321
English
Authors' objectives:

The aim of this project is to specifically answer questions on definition, assessment, and prevalence of hearing impairment in adults and to explore the current organisation of hearing services in the Nordic countries and in the United Kingdom.

Authors' recommendations: The literature review alone gives limited information concerning the extent of the problem of hearing impairment in adult populations in the target countries. Likewise, there are only a few studies fulfilling strict scientific criteria on hearing aid outcome, and although many of the studies excluded in the literature search may have clinical relevance at specific sites, they cannot be generalised into larger populations. Even fewer studies correlate rehabilitation outcome with the degree of hearing impairment, disability or handicap. The survey indicated striking differences between the countries. The numbers of hearing aids fitted annually per 1000 persons vary from 2.72 in Finland to 12.30 in Denmark. A significant proportion of the hearing impaired in the Nordic countries and in the United Kingdom have not sought help and do not possess or use a hearing aid. About 3.5% of the population of Denmark and the United Kingdom use a hearing aid; the figures being 2.8% in Norway and 1.0% in Finland. None of these approaches the figure of 5% of the population who are estimated to have >= 45 dB hearing impairment in both ears. Also, wide variations in the estimated expenditure per person with a hearing aid exist. In Finland, the expenditure per person with a hearing aid was estimated to be double that of Norway and Denmark and nearly tenfold that of the United Kingdom.
Authors' methods: Review; survey
Details
Project Status: Completed
URL for project: http://www.sbu.se/Published
Year Published: 2001
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: Finland
MeSH Terms
  • Delivery of Health Care
  • Hearing Aids
  • Hearing Disorders
Contact
Organisation Name: Finnish Coordinating Center for Health Technology Assessment
Contact Address: Finnish Office for Health Care Technology Assessment (Finohta)
Contact Name: .
Contact Email: fincchta@ppshp.fi
Copyright: DACEHTA, FinOHTA, SBU, SMM (now NOKC), MRC
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.