Profile of audiometric thresholds and tympanometric curve of elderly patients

ABSTRACT: Aim: to analyze the audiological profile of elderly patients seen in a clinic from an audiology school clinic in the city of Belo Horizonte. METHODS: we studied all the charts from the patients who underwent audiologic assessment from April of 2004 and August of 2007 in an audiology clinic in the city of Belo Horizonte. RESULTS: We studied the 313 audiological tests from patients 60 years of age or over. The results from the audiological evaluations as to the type of hearing loss were: auditory thresholds within normal standards - 22.28%; sensorineural hearing loss - 60.62%; mixed hearing loss - 14.70%, conductive hearing loss - 2.40%. The level varied between normal and profound. As to the tympanometry, 83.22% had the type A curve, and the other types of curves obtained made up a total of 16.3%. The percentage of individuals who did not undergo the test was 0.48%. 1.76% of the patients who had unilateral hearing loss and 98.24% had bilateral hearing loss. CONCLUSIONS: we found a greater prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss, and the degree of the loss varied from mild to profound, with a prevalence of the moderate degree.