Evaluation of social isolation, loneliness and quality of life in individuals with hearing loss

Hearing loss leads to communication problems and adversely affects daily quality of life. As hearing loss in adults generally progresses over time, individuals try to adapt to this situation. Adaptation initially involves asking for repetition of some words not understood in noisy environments but eventually leads to reduced communication and social isolation. Disease burden studies conducted in our country also show that hearing loss is one of the most significant health issues among adults. The present study aims to evaluate the quality of life, social isolation, and loneliness associated with hearing loss in adults. For this purpose, participants were administered the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ), the World Health Organization Quality of LifeBREF (WHOQOL-BREF), the Social Isolation Scale, and the SELSA-S Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale. The study included a total of 124 individuals, comprising 62 with normal hearing and 62 with hearing loss, aged 18-45. The group of individuals with hearing loss was further divided into cochlear implant users and hearing aid users. It was found that there was a statistically significant difference in speech perception, spatial perception, hearing quality, and SSQ total scores between the groups of participants (p<0.05). This difference was found to be more pronounced in cochlear implant users. There was a statistically significant difference in speech perception, spatial perception, hearing quality, and SSQ total scores among participants with hearing loss (p<0.05). Examining the relationship between hearing loss and quality of life, no statistically significant difference was found between the groups in terms of physical health, psychological health, social relationships, environment, and WHOQOL-BREF scores (p>0.05). However, a statistically significant difference was identified between the groups in terms of social isolation scale scores and emotional loneliness scores (p<0.05).The findings are expected to contribute to the improvement of adult rehabilitation programs. Keywords: Hearing loss, cochlear implant, hearing aid, quality of life, loneliness