Hearing loss in aging

SUMMARY: Aging is a natural consequence of a society developing process. The city of São Paulo has almost one million people who are above sixty years of age. Age-related hearing loss equals the total hearing loss resulted from cell degeneration caused by noise exposure, ototoxic agents and the loss caused by disorders and medical treatments. AIM: To study age-related hearing degeneration by means of higher thresholds and hearing sensitivity measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional contemporary cohort study in which we assessed 211 elderly patients with mean age of 75.24 years, of whom 61 were females and 150 were males. The subjects were submitted to an interview and a conventional audiometric assessment; and later divided into four groups according to age range. RESULTS: Significant threshold drop in the four established age groups, decrease in speech recognition ratio, and a significant difference regarding gender. CONCLUSION: As age advanced there was a gradual increase in hearing loss, men showed a lower threshold in the 4000Hz frequency when compared to women, and in the speech intelligibility test thre was also a gradual decrease with aging.