The aim of this study was to determine whether participation restrictions and contextual factors could be elicited in an elderly hearing-impaired population using an open-ended questionnaire. The study also tested the value of the World Health Organization's ICF in the classification of the problems experienced by the elderly hearing-impaired. To this end, we administered the 'Life Effects Questionnaire', in which the subjects were asked to list the effects of their hearing loss on their lives. With this approach, significantly more participation restrictions, environmental factors and personal factors were elicited than with a traditional approach. ICF proved useful in classifying these, but the Activity and Participation Scales had a major weakness in terms of non-communication-related hearing problems. Furthermore, a high proportion of the responses came into the personal factors, for which a formal classification does not exist within ICF. This highlights a significant need in that classification.