Abstract: Objective To investigate the causes of hearing loss for people over 60 years old. Methods People more than 60 years old in 14 provinces, 22 districts were investigated with a self-designed questionnaire, and a hearing test was also done for every subject. Results Among all the subjects, the etiological factors of hearing loss were otitis media (10.5%), hereditary deafness (2.9%), noise-induced hearing loss (3%), ototoxic deafness (6.4%), traumatic deafness (2%), presbycusis (33.8%), sudden deafness (1%) and other reasons (36.2%), respectively, with 11.3% unknown. Conclusion Presbycusis is the main reason of hearing loss for old people, and otitis media is the second. The cause of hearing loss is different with ages, districts, and whether in rural areas.

Key words: elderly, hearing loss, pathogeny