聽覺機能障礙人口與致殘成因長期變化趨勢分析

Trends of Population and Causes of Disabling Hearing Impairments in Taiwan: Year 2000 to 2014

聽覺障礙者是指聽覺機能永久性缺損，聽力損失在二十五分貝以上者，通常不配戴助聽器便難以與人交談，影響其日常生活；且聽覺機能障礙者與對方交談時，因其限制常沒有及時反應或注意力不集中，在溝通方面受到限制；因此瞭解聽覺機能障礙人口學特性是公共衛生政策的重要基礎。目的：了解我國聽覺機能障礙者之人口學及致殘成因等變項之盛行率以及其長期變化趨勢分析。方法：以Microsoft Office Excel 2013整理我國2000年至2014年衛生福利部統計處身心障礙者人口資料庫，首先分析其盛行率，主要變項包括：年齡、年代、障礙等級、致殘成因等；再利用SPSS 22.0版統計軟體進行統計分析，以研究對象之次數、百分比、平均數等作描述性分析，最後以Linear趨勢分析2000年至2014年各年度各變項聽覺機能障礙盛行率與人口特性之趨勢變化，以及聽覺機能障礙者人口在身心障礙者族群之比例變化。結果：在性別方面，本研究發現男女性2000年至2014年之盛行率皆呈顯著上升；在障礙等級區分方面，各等級人數皆呈顯著上升；在致殘成因方面，在先天、疾病、職業傷害、意外、交通事故因素之盛行率呈現顯著上升；在戰爭因素之盛行率則呈現顯著下降；其他因素方面並無顯著差異；在聽覺機能障礙者年齡分層之盛行率方面，7至17歲年齡層聽覺機能障礙者盛行率呈現顯著下降；在18歲以上之聽覺機能障礙者則呈現顯著上升。其中尤以65歲以上聽覺機能障礙者，增加最多。透過本研究之結果，了解聽覺機能障礙者之人口學變化情形，以作為未來制定公共衛生政策之參考。

The disabling hearing-impaired are defined as those people with permanently hearing impaired which hearing impairment level is above 25dB, usually they cannot have daily conversation without hearing aids. To improve quality of health care for people with disabling hearing impairments, how to strengthen population monitoring system is one of the vital steps public health policies. This study aims to understand and analyze the trends and population with hearing-impairments and to analyze their disability causes based on Taiwan national disability population statistics. Results found that the population with disabling hearing impairments is increasing in the last decade, particularly in elderly age group. Main causes of hearing impairments included congenital, diseases, vocational reason, injury, and accident. This study provide a general picture of disabling hearing-impaired population, and the data will be useful for public health policy in the future.