| dc.description.abstract | In 2003, the Federal University of Santa Maria signed a partnership agreement
with the Health Secretary of the State of Rio Grande do Sul which lasted until 2004.
This partnership aimed at the donation of hearing aids to the users of the Sistema
Único de Saúde. In 2005, the Federal Government carried out a registration for the
concession of continuous flow hearing aids. Based on that, relevant data were
collected to be used in researches. However, demonstrative studies of these patients
profile had not been carried out yet. This work aimed at outlining a panorama of the
patients attended in the Hearing Aids Laboratory of the Federal University of Santa
Maria, determining the profile of these patients according to genre, age, profession,
place of origin, auditory diagnosis, the kind of fitted hearing aid, as well as how long
the patient claimed to have the problem. The study was carried out through the
analysis of medical reports of all patients attended between April 7, 2003 and June
29, 2006, which makes up a total of 348 patients. It was verified that there was no
predominance related to genre in the patients who were assessed; regarding
occupation, retired people and students were the most frequent; the time between
noticing the problem and looking for help was more than 10 years in most cases; the
sensorineural hearing losses of moderate level and of descending configuration were
predominant. Besides, behind-the-ear hearing aids were the most fitted, as a result of
the laboratory preference for this kind of hearing aid. Such preference was due to
previous negative experiences with in-the-ear, in-the-canal and completely-in-thecanal
hearing aids. | |
