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Methods. We analyzed data from the 1999-2006 cycles of the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES), an ongoing epidemiological survey designed to assess the health and functional status of the civilian, noninstitutionalized US population. 5 Hearing aid use was assessed with an interviewer-administered questionnaire and was based on whether an individual reported wearing a hearing aid at least once a day (1999-2004) or for at least 5 h/wk (2005-2006). Air-conduction pure-tone audiometry was administered to a half sample of all participants aged 50 to 69 years from 1999 through 2004 (n= 1888) and all participants 70 years and older from 2005 through 2006 (n= 717). Audiometry was performed in a sound-attenuating booth according to established NHANES protocols. A speech frequency pure-tone average (average of hearing thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) of greater than 25 dB …