Age-related hearing loss: gender differences

Abstract

Hearing thresholds were measured in 224 Tbilisi citizens, 128 females and 96 males, at the frequencies of 0.125-16 kHz. None of the subjects reported any job-related noise exposures or other potentially confounding history. Initial signs of age-related hearing impairments were detected in females and males of 40-49 and 30-39 years of age, respectively. In both genders they involved high frequencies. In the following age decades, 50-59, 60-69, and 70-79 years, the hearing losses increased in magnitudes and extended to lower frequencies. From the age of 30-39 years to that of 40-49 and 50-59 years the dynamics of threshold elevations appeared more rapid in males than in females. The gender differences in hearing acuity increased respectively in this age period. Thereafter, in the ages of 60-69 and 70-79 years, the hearing alterations became steeper in females than in males. As a result, the gender differences in hearing smoothed significantly.