OBJECTIVE: To describe the socio-epidemiological characteristics of patients with hearing loss at the Institute of Audiology Presidente Prudente-SP. We evaluated the medical records of 675 patients diagnosed with hearing loss treated at a referral center during the period from 2003-2007. The data review was conducted from September to November 2012. in this sample, 314 patients (46.5%) were men and 361 (53.5%) were women. The most common age group was>61 years, corresponding to 51.5% of the visitors (n= 349). There were 60 patients (n= 8.9%) aged <18 years. With regard to city of origin, 49.2% (n= 331) of the patients originated from Presidente Prudente-SP, while the others came from macro-region cities or neighboring states. When asked to provide their ethnicity, 67.7% (n= 456) of the subjects reported being White. When evaluating the level of schooling, 304 (45.1%) patients reported having completed elementary education; only 8 (1.2%) patients had completed tertiary education. As for occupation, 201 (29.9%) patients reported themselves as retired.
