Table 3.
Prevalence and Correlates of Current Hearing Aid Use for 5 hours or more per week in Individuals With Speech Frequency Pure Tone Average Greater Than 25 dB in the Better Hearing Ear, National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2005–2006
| Prevalence of Hearing Aid Use* (95% CI) | Univariate OR†,‡ (95% CI) | Multivariate OR†,§ (95% CI) | |
| Hearing level¶ | |||
| Mild | 3.4 (0.8–6.0) | Reference | Reference |
| Moderate | 40.0 (35.1–44.8) | 18.9*** (8.6–41.7) | 23.0*** (9.43–56.1) |
| Severe | 76.6 (44.9–100) | 93.3*** (11.8–735) | 95.1*** (16.3–555) |
| Demographic | |||
| Age (y) | |||
| 70–74 | 11.2 (4.2–18.2) | Reference | Reference |
| 75–79 | 22.1 (11.9–32.2) | 2.24 (0.72–6.96) | — |
| 80–84 | 19.5 (15.1–24.0) | 1.92 (0.86–4.30) | — |
| ≥85 | 26.5 (16.9–36.1) | 2.86* (1.27–6.40) | — |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 15.1 (12.2–18.1) | Reference | Reference |
| Male | 23.6 (18.2–29.1) | 1.74* (1.14–2.64) | — |
| Race | |||
| Non-Hispanic white | 19.9 (17.1–22.7) | Reference | Reference |
| Non-Hispanic black | 8.3 (0.6–15.9) | 0.36 (0.13–1.01) | — |
| Mexican or other Hispanic | 12.9 (0.5–25.2) | 0.59 (0.19–1.85) | — |
| Other | 24.4 (0–59.2) | 1.30 (0.21–8.11) | — |
| Education | |||
| <12th grade | 16.2 (11.6–20.9) | Reference | Reference |
| High school graduate | 11.9 (3.7–20.0) | 0.69 (0.30–1.61) | — |
| Some college or more | 28.2 (19.6–36.7) | 2.02* (1.17–3.49) | 1.90* (1.01–3.60) |
| Household Income | |||
| < $20K/y | 12.5 (6.7–18.3) | Reference | Reference |
| $20K to <$45K | 19.6 (12.3–27.0) | 1.70 (0.72–4.02) | — |
| ≥ $45K | 22.9 (13.8–32.1) | 2.08 (0.96–4.49) | — |
| Refused/don’t know | 49.9 (1.2–98.5) | 6.95 (0.91–53.0) | — |
| Noise exposure | |||
| Firearm use | |||
| Yes | 23.6 (16.9–30.2) | 1.62* (1.01–2.60) | — |
| No | 16.0 (13.0–19.0) | Reference | Reference |
| Occupational exposure | |||
| Yes | 21.5 (14.5–28.4) | 1.28 (0.77–2.15) | — |
| No | 17.6 (14.5–20.6) | Reference | Reference |
| Leisure exposure | |||
| Yes | 29.7 (20.2–39.3) | 2.03* (1.15–3.55) | 2.35* (1.29–4.29) |
| No | 17.3 (13.8–20.8) | Reference | Reference |
Notes: CI = confidence interval; OR = odds ratio.
Prevalence values indicate the weighted percentage of adults reporting hearing aid use > 5 hours/week.
Asterisks denote level of statistical significance level: *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001; — Not significant.
‡Univariate odds ratios indicate the odds of hearing aid use relative to the designated reference group.
Multivariate odds ratios indicate the odds of hearing aid use relative to the designated reference group after adjusting for all covariates in Table 3.
Hearing level determined by speech frequency pure tone average in the better hearing ear (mild loss > 25 dB and ≤ 40 dB, moderate loss > 40 dB and ≤ 70 dB, severe loss > 70 dB).