Table 1.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUALS ≥ 60 YEARS WITH HEARING LOSSa BY AGE CATEGORY IN THE UNITED STATES, NHANES 1999–2006, 2009–2010
| Demographics | 60–69 years (n = 291)b No. (%) |
70–79 years (n = 571)b No. (%) |
80+ (n = 523)b No. (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sex, female | 92 (31.6) | 235 (41.2) | 248 (47.4) |
| Race | |||
| White | 142 (48.8) | 392 (68.7) | 433 (82.8) |
| Black | 35 (12.0) | 78 (13.7) | 34 (6.5) |
| Hispanic | 99 (34.0) | 85 (14.9) | 40 (7.6) |
| Other | 15 (5.2) | 16 (2.8) | 16 (3.1) |
| Education | |||
| < HS | 144 (49.5) | 209 (36.6) | 207 (39.6) |
| HS grad | 65 (22.3) | 163 (28.5) | 117 (22.4) |
| Some college or more | 82 (28.2) | 198 (34.7) | 198 (37.9) |
| Refused / Don’t know | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) |
| Household Incomec | |||
| ≤ $20,000 | 90 (30.9) | 181 (31.7) | 157 (30.0) |
| $20,000–45,000 | 90 (30.9) | 201 (35.2) | 189 (36.1) |
| ≥ $45,000 | 73 (25.1) | 153 (26.8) | 134 (25.6) |
| Refused / Don’t know | 1 (0.3) | 33 (5.8) | 41 (7.8) |
| Family income- to- poverty ratio | |||
| <1.3 | 81 (27.8) | 163 (28.5) | 122 (23.3) |
| 1.3–3.5 | 110 (37.8) | 256 (44.8) | 240 (45.9) |
| >3.5 | 100 (34.3) | 152 (26.6) | 161 (30.8) |
| Hearing loss category | |||
| Mild loss (> 25 dB HL) | 215 (73.9) | 357 (62.5) | 228 (43.6) |
| Moderate or worse loss (> 40 dB HL) | 76 (26.1) | 214 (37.5) | (56.4) |
a
Hearing loss defined as speech-frequency pure tone average (PTA) >25 dB HL in the better hearing ear – 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 Hz used to calculate PTA.
b
Sample n’s show the number of persons in the sample with hearing loss.
c
Numbers do not sum to group total because of missing data.