Table 7. Communication ability and social functioning of older adults residing in a long-term care facility in Ontario based on the presence of vision and hearing impairments and/or cognitive impairments.

Variables	No Impairment	Vision impairment (VI)	Hearing impairment (HI)	Dual sensory impairment (DSI)	Cognitive impairment (CI)	Cognitive + Sensory Impairment
						CI + Vision impairment	CI + Hearing impairment	CI + DSI
	N = 6,692	N = 1,867	N = 1,637	N = 1,072	N = 31,142	N = 23,142	N = 14,677	N = 30,349
%
Hearing
Adequate	100.0	100.0	0.0	0.0	100.0	100.0	0.0	0.0
Mildly impaired	0.0	0.0	72.2	66.7	0.0	0.0	68.2	59.2
Moderately impaired	0.0	0.0	24.9	29.1	0.0	0.0	27.8	33.7
Severely impaired	0.0	0.0	2.9	4.2	0.0	0.0	4.0	7.1
Vision
Adequate	100.0	0.0	100.0	0.0	100.0	0.0	100.0	0.0
Mildly impaired	0.0	67.8	0.0	63.5	0.0	59.2	0.0	54.1
Moderately impaired	0.0	16.3	0.0	22.1	0.0	17.5	0.0	21.6
Highly impaired	0.0	8.1	0.0	9.3	0.0	19.2	0.0	18.8
Severely impaired	0.0	7.8	0.0	5.1	0.0	4.1	0.0	5.5
Visual appliance (e.g., magnifying glass)	74.2	73.3	83.9	78.3	51.9	49.3	64.5	54.1
Communication devices
Hearing aids present and used regularly	10.9	10.0	39.9	40.6	3.4	2.3	18.8	12.1
Hearing aids preset and not used regularly	1.3	1.6	12.7	10.4	0.8	0.7	10.9	8.9
Other receptive communication techniques (e.g., lip reading)	0.1	0.1	2.6	2.2	0.2	0.2	2.1	2.2
Ability to understand others (comprehension)
No difficulty	99.2	99.0	88.5	85.3	35.2	22.1	19.9	9.9
Mild difficulty	0.8	1.0	11.4	14.4	37.1	33.7	54.6	40.9
Moderate/severe difficulty	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.3	27.7	44.2	25.5	49.2
Worsening in communication as compared to 90 days ago	0.2	0.3	1.9	1.4	4.7	6.3	6.8	9.0
Sense of initiative or involvement
At ease interacting with others	93.5	92.4	94.7	91.1	75.8	66.1	78.3	65.0
At ease doing planned activities	75.4	72.7	73.9	66.6	56.4	46.7	57.4	44.3
At ease doing self-initiated activities	88.9	84.0	91.5	85.5	46.8	32.1	54.4	32.5
Establishing own goals	72.4	68.7	76.4	70.7	31.3	22.1	37.3	23.2
Pursues involvement in life of facility	49.6	44.7	49.4	42.3	22.9	16.2	22.9	14.0
Accepts invitation in groups activities	32.0	31.8	32.8	29.6	34.7	29.8	32.9	26.9