Researchers have determined that individuals with hearing loss are also at risk for cognitive deficits sooner than those with normal hearing. This has major implications for seniors, for whom hearing loss is one of the most common health problems.
A team from Johns Hopkins Medicine published the results of their study in JAMA Internal Medicine. The lead author was Dr. Frank Lin, an epidemiologist and hearing specialist noted for focusing attention on the link between hearing problems and health among the elderly, according to The New York Times.
The Johns Hopkins scientists reviewed data on 1,984 seniors who participated in the Health ABC Study, a long-term project that included the subjects with a mean age of 77 in Pittsburgh and Memphis. None showed problems with memory and thinking prior to participating.
Initial evaluations of hearing and cognitive skills occurred in 2001 and 2002. The seniors were evaluated with additional cognitive tests (but not hearing exams) three, five, and six years after the first tests.
Researchers found that yearly rates of cognitive decline in seniors with hearing problems were 41 percent greater than in those without hearing loss. Scientists consider even a five-point decline clinically significant as far as cognitive ability. The team found that while seniors with normal hearing reached a five-point decline in 10.9 years, those with a hearing loss experienced it in only 7.7 years.
Given the relationship established between hearing problems and cognitive issues, the most important finding was the need for seniors, caregivers, and medical professionals to pay more attention to the signs of hearing loss. The researchers plan to conduct an additional project to test whether various types of intervention, like the use of a hearing aid, affect the rate of cognitive decline.
Hearing loss that appears gradually with aging is known as presbycusis, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can't be reversed. Experts blame heredity and repeated exposure to loud noise as the primary culprits.
Loss of hearing is one of the health issues that most frequently plague seniors, says the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. It affects half of individuals older than 85 and around a third of those past 60.
My mother was my age when she began to experience hearing loss. Within a year, she spoke so loudly that listeners asked her to lower her voice. Her father had also experienced a serious hearing deficit as a senior.
Thousands of dollars spent on hearing aids failed to improve my mother's hearing. Within five years, she had trouble hearing half the words in a sentence and using a telephone. Her cognitive skills took a tumble at the same time, causing her to refer to people by the names of dead friends and relatives. Sadly, we never suspected a link between her hearing loss and a cognitive deficit. Now I know.
Vonda J. Sines has published thousands of print and online health and medical articles. She specializes in diseases and other conditions that affect the quality of life.
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