| The objectives of this study were to identify and describe programs for hearing impaired elderly people in the United States; to analyze the differences and similarities among these centers; and to develop recommendations for additional services and research.;To identify centers with special programs for the hearing impaired elderly, a questionnaire was mailed to 13,923 senior centers and clubs. Three hundred forty four such centers serve as a basis for this study, 283 served both hearing impaired and hearing elderly persons and only 61 served hearing impaired elderly persons. Most of these centers were multipurpose or senior centers (77.0%); 10.0% were clubs. Half of the centers operate in their own facility; most were non-profit supported by public sources, but also relied heavily on themselves for financial revenues. Title III of OAA was most frequently cited as a main financial source. Centers served large areas, forcing hearing impaired persons to travel long distances for services. Centers tended to be open five days per week, although programs for only deaf persons were open once or twice a month. Attenders were predominantly white women whose ages ranged from 65 to 74 years of age. The total number of hearing impaired attenders in 1984 was 51,519, of whom 8,556 attended centers for hearing impaired only.;Administrators were predominantly female, young, paid part- or full-time, and hearing. About one-half had some skill or fluency in manual communication. Most found a great need for training on issues of hearing loss and adulthood.;A wide range of activities and services were identified varying in scope according to type of centers. MPSC offers a wide range of comprehensive services; clubs tended to be more social. Educational and cultural activities and information and assistance were the most frequently offered activities and services. Health and individual services in the community were the most frequent types of connection centers had with outside agencies.;Centers' contacts with organizations in the community focused mainly on health and individuals services; the least number of contacts they had were with deaf networks.;Of a list of nine types of assistive devices and support services for hearing impaired persons, the two most frequently offered by centers were (1) hearing testing and screening and (2) hearing aid sales. About one-third of the centers report that they have a TDD; loop amplification system was the device least reported in centers. |
