Hearing Acuity in a Healthy Elderly Population: Effects on Emotional, Cognitive, and Social Status

Abstract

Hearing acuity and the relationships between untreated hearing deficits and emotional state, cognitive functioning, and social integration were examined in 239 physically healthy, independent-living elderly men and women with a mean age of 72 years. Air-conduction, pure-tone thresholds in both ears were determined at high- and mid-frequencies, and participants were also given the Speech Perception in Noise test. Multivariate techniques were used to test for associations between hearing acuity and scores from the Kellner-Sheffield Symptom Questionnaire, the Jacobs Cognitive Screening Exam, the Halstead Category Test, the Wechsler Memory Scale, and the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction. No deleterious effects of untreated hearing deficits on emotional status or social integration were found. The findings suggest that those with a hearing loss perform less well on verbal but not on nonverbal tests of cognition.

Sensory deficits and mental disorders of old age: causal or coincidental associations?

“…However, this finding has not been universal, nor is sensory deficit necessarily associated with a decrease in social interaction (Norris & Cunningham, 1981;Thomas et al 1983). As Thomas (1981) pointed out, the vast majority of individuals with acquired sensory deficits do not develop psychopathology.…”

Effects of hearing loss on traffic safety and mobility

“…This also applies for this present thesis. Numerous studies have shown that there is a correlation between HL and cognitive decline in old age (Granick, Kleban, & Weiss, 1976;Thomas, Hunt, Garry, Hood, Goodwin, & Goodwin, 1983;Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994;Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997;Li & Lindenberger, 2002;Rönnberg et al, 2011), which will be presented more specifically in a subsequent section.…”

“…These effects have been shown with the Modified Mini-Mental State test (Teng & Chui, 1987), which is a verbal cognitive test, as well as with a non-verbal cognitive test (called Digit Symbol Substitution, Wechsler, 1981), in both cross-sectional and prospective studies (Valentijn et al, 2005;Peters, Potter, & Scholer, 1988). Specifically, verbal tests have shown the relationship between HL and cognitive decline more extensively than non-verbal tests (Granick et al, 1976;Thomas et al, 1983).…”

Évaluation des structures de prise en charge du patient âgé atteint de cancer: la consultation d’oncogériatrie

“…L'altération de la vue est source de chutes et de détérioration de la qualité de vie [6]. De même, l'impact social, cognitif et fonctionnel d'un trouble auditif a été démontré à de multiples reprises [24]. Toutefois, les patients en informent rarement spontanément leur cancé-rologue.…”