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Background and Objectives Self-reported sensory data provide important insight into an individual’s perception of sensory ability. It remains unclear what factors predict longitudinal change in self-reported sensory ability across multiple modalities during healthy ageing. This study examined these associations in a cohort of older adults for vision, hearing, taste and smell. Research Design and Methods Data on self-report sensory ability were drawn from 5,065 participants of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (mean age at baseline = 61.6, SD = 9.5, range 32 – 93 years; 59% female; resident in the Republic of Ireland) across six waves of data collection (2009 – 2021). Covariates included demographics, lifestyle factors and measures of sensory-, physical- mental- and cognitive health. Independent discrete survival analyses were performed for each sensory modality. Results A transition to self-reported fair/poor hearing was most prevalent (21% of the sample), followed by fair/poor vision (19%), smell (11%) and taste (6%). Participants who self-reported fair/poor function in one sensory modality were likely to report fair/poor ability in another sensory modality, although not for all pairings. Only self-rated fair/poor health was associated with increased odds of self-reported fair/poor ability across all sensory modalities. Age was associated with increased odds of self-reported fair/poor hearing, smell and taste as was current smoker status (vision, smell and taste). Several other sensory (e.g., eye disease, hearing aid use) and non-sensory covariates (e.g., education, depression) were associated with the odds of self-reported fair/poor ability in one or two sensory modalities only. Discussion and Implications Over time, older adults perceive associations in fair/poor ability for multiple sensory modalities, albeit somewhat inconsistently. Both modality-general and modality-specific factors are associated with a transition from normal to fair/poor sensory ability. These results suggest the need for more routine testing of multiple senses with increasing age.

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