Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study

Context: Rural residents can be exposed to high levels of agricultural machinery noise and are at risk of hearing loss. Aims: This study aimed to determine audiology service use and rates of hearing loss in a regional area of Australia, using both self-report and audiology testing. Setting and Desig...

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Main Authors: Kristen M Glenister, David Simmons
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2019-01-01
Series:Noise and Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2019;volume=21;issue=102;spage=217;epage=222;aulast=Glenister
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spelling doaj-fcca3b730d0d415ba5b6fe7ffe6d04fb2020-11-25T03:23:07ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsNoise and Health1463-17411998-40302019-01-012110221722210.4103/nah.NAH_5_18Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads studyKristen M GlenisterDavid SimmonsContext: Rural residents can be exposed to high levels of agricultural machinery noise and are at risk of hearing loss. Aims: This study aimed to determine audiology service use and rates of hearing loss in a regional area of Australia, using both self-report and audiology testing. Setting and Design: A survey of randomly selected households was undertaken and 6432 participants were interviewed face to face about their health, hearing, and use of audiology services. A total of 1454 participants were randomly selected to undertake standard audiology testing. Material and Methods: Material Hearing was evaluated using conventional audiometry. Statistical Analysis Used: Independent t-tests, cChi-squared tests, and logistic regression were used to examine the association amongbetween hearing loss, use of audiology services, and demographic factors. Results: Hearing issues were present in 12.5% of the survey participants. The rate of hearing loss increased significantly with age. Males were significantly more likely to have hearing loss than females (9.5% vs. 5.2%, pP << 0.01). The majority of people who reported accessing audiology services in the past 12 months were satisfied with the care they received (85.2%), and experienced short waiting times for these services (68.2% waited ≤≤ 7 days). Conclusions: Males had higher rates of hearing issues than females in this rural area. Audiology services in the region were accessible within short waiting times, and clients were satisfied with the service.http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2019;volume=21;issue=102;spage=217;epage=222;aulast=Glenister(3–6): haudiologyaustraliahearing lossregionalruralhearing lossaudiologyruralregionalaustralia
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kristen M Glenister
David Simmons
spellingShingle Kristen M Glenister
David Simmons
Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study
Noise and Health
(3–6): haudiology
australia
hearing loss
regional
ruralhearing loss
audiology
rural
regional
australia
author_facet Kristen M Glenister
David Simmons
author_sort Kristen M Glenister
title Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study
title_short Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study
title_full Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study
title_fullStr Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study
title_full_unstemmed Hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: Findings from the crossroads study
title_sort hearing loss and access to audiology services in rural victoria: findings from the crossroads study
publisher Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
series Noise and Health
issn 1463-1741
1998-4030
publishDate 2019-01-01
description Context: Rural residents can be exposed to high levels of agricultural machinery noise and are at risk of hearing loss. Aims: This study aimed to determine audiology service use and rates of hearing loss in a regional area of Australia, using both self-report and audiology testing. Setting and Design: A survey of randomly selected households was undertaken and 6432 participants were interviewed face to face about their health, hearing, and use of audiology services. A total of 1454 participants were randomly selected to undertake standard audiology testing. Material and Methods: Material Hearing was evaluated using conventional audiometry. Statistical Analysis Used: Independent t-tests, cChi-squared tests, and logistic regression were used to examine the association amongbetween hearing loss, use of audiology services, and demographic factors. Results: Hearing issues were present in 12.5% of the survey participants. The rate of hearing loss increased significantly with age. Males were significantly more likely to have hearing loss than females (9.5% vs. 5.2%, pP << 0.01). The majority of people who reported accessing audiology services in the past 12 months were satisfied with the care they received (85.2%), and experienced short waiting times for these services (68.2% waited ≤≤ 7 days). Conclusions: Males had higher rates of hearing issues than females in this rural area. Audiology services in the region were accessible within short waiting times, and clients were satisfied with the service.
topic (3–6): haudiology
australia
hearing loss
regional
ruralhearing loss
audiology
rural
regional
australia
url http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2019;volume=21;issue=102;spage=217;epage=222;aulast=Glenister
work_keys_str_mv AT kristenmglenister hearinglossandaccesstoaudiologyservicesinruralvictoriafindingsfromthecrossroadsstudy
AT davidsimmons hearinglossandaccesstoaudiologyservicesinruralvictoriafindingsfromthecrossroadsstudy
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