How is hearing impairment associated with driving accidents?
Ans : Hearing impairment is the third most prevalent chronic health condition in older adults. Significant hearing loss can affect driving performance and safety. Screening for hearing loss should begin with the history, such as difficulties hearing the television and telephone or understanding speech in a crowded room, and otoscopic inspection for cerumen impaction. The whisper test can be used as a brief screening tool to determine whether there is a difference in hearing in each ear and whether referral for formal audiologic examination is necessary. In this test, one ear is occluded and the older patient is asked to repeat the words or numbers whispered softly by the clinician standing one to two feet away, usually to the back of the patient. The whispered words or numbers used for the test should be those with equally accented syllables, such as baseball or twenty-two.
