A qualitative social survey has been conducted on a group of 207 elderly people with a hearing loss. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which acoustic problems in the built environment affect this subject group. It was found that the speech communication of elderly people was significantly affected by the presence of backgroun talkers in a reverberant environment. Considerable evidence of subjects adapting their behaviour to acoustic problems was found. For example, a large number of subjects experienced poor reception with hearing aids. This prompted them to use the aid selectively. Also, poor sound insulation in domestic dwellings gave a strong disincentive for some subjects to use their television sets at a sound level audible to them. Design consequences based on these results will be discussed.
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