10 - Aging and the Senses

Abstract

This chapter describes the sensory and perceptual capacities of the aging adult and relates these changes to one's ability to cope with the demands of the environment. As little information is available that specifically links sensory capacity to mental health, the data presented in the chapter focuses on normative aging. The chapter reviews the age-related structural changes in the visual system, the structural changes in the auditory system and the age-related changes in auditory function, the age-related structural changes in the taste system, the age-related changes in the olfactory system, and the age-related changes in the cutaneous sensory structure. A review of the literature on age-related changes in sensory-perceptual processes leads one to formulate recommendations regarding future research initiatives. Among the most critical considerations are a need to (1) account for the increased between-subject variability observed within older groups, (2) isolate peripheral versus central nervous system contributions to age-related sensory deficits, (3) explore more thoroughly the suprathreshold sensory experience among the elderly, (4) explore how cognitive strategies are employed to compensate for reduced sensory abilities, (5) evaluate demonstrated opportunities for preventing age-related loss of sensory function because of environmental insult and disease, and (6) initiate remediation-based research aimed at optimizing the sensory-perceptual environment to the older individual.