Elderly hearing-impaired persons' coping behavior.

Little is known about the coping behavior associated with hearing impairment. In this study, 24 elderly hearing-impaired participants participated in a structured video interview including communication faults (provocations) presented in association with sounds. The participants also completed measures of self-perceived hearing handicap, optimism, and depression. Several behaviors were coded independently by two observers using a rating scale that reached average Cohen's kappa of .75. A more conservative estimate resulted in a kappa of .50. Results showed that the provocations affected behavior differently. Especially problematic for the participants was a provocation in which the interviewer talked with his hand in front of his mouth. With one exception, no gender differences were found. Few significant relations between the assessed behaviors and self-assessed handicap, optimism, and depression were found. Hearing measurement (pure tone average and speech recognition) were not clearly related with the coping behaviors assessed. Behavioral observation techniques designed for the elderly hearing impaired should be further studied.