key: cord-0840143-vvduxnlt
authors: Ertugrul, Suha; Soylemez, Emre
title: Explosion in hearing aid demands after Covid-19 outbreak curfew
date: 2020-08-01
journal: Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol
DOI: 10.1007/s00405-020-06246-7
sha: 108bbc14ee8c4a5611905400506c7012a978ee30
doc_id: 840143
cord_uid: vvduxnlt

nan

Communication problems with family members who have hearing loss but do not use hearing aids may have increased the awareness of all family members on this issue. As a matter of fact, with the removal of the curfew for individuals aged 65 and over on June 9, there was an explosion in applications to our clinic with the hearing aid request. To determine the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on hearing aid demand, the hospital database was retrospectively scanned. The number of applications to the otorhinolaryngology outpatient clinic and the number of patients recommended hearing aids were determined in April, May and June of 2019 and 2020. SPSS version 21 (SPSS software, Chicago, IL, USA) was used for data analysis. P values < 0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. Although the number of patients who applied to the outpatient clinic decreased during the pandemic period, an increase was observed in the number of patients requesting hearing aids (Table 1) . This increase exploded when the curfews disappeared and gained statistical significance. The use of masks in the COVID-19 outbreak period led to a decrease in the transmission and intelligibility of sound. At the same time, the lack of lip movements due to the facial mask may increase the difficulties experienced by individuals with hearing loss. We believe that all these reasons will increase the use of hearing aids in individuals with hearing loss in the coming days.

In conclusion, we think that the use of hearing aids will increase even more in individuals with presbycusis during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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