Assessment of two central auditory tests in elderly patients without hearing complaints

Alina Sanches Gonçales,Maria Cristina Lancia Cury

doi:10.1590/s1808-86942011000100005

Abstract

AbstractSpeech understanding disorders in the elderly may be due to peripheral or central auditory dysfunctions. Asymmetry of results in dichotic testing increases with age, and may reflect on a lack of inter-hemisphere transmission and cognitive decline.Aim: To investigate auditory processing of aged people with no hearing complaints.Study design: clinical prospective.Materials and Methods: Twenty-two voluntary individuals, aged between 55 and 75 years, were evaluated. They reported no hearing complaints and had maximal auditory thresholds of 40 dB HL until 4 KHz, 80% of minimal speech recognition scores and peripheral symmetry between the ears. We used two kinds of tests: speech in noise and dichotic alternated dissyllables (SSW). Results were compared between males and females, right and left ears and between age groups.Results: There were no significant differences between genders, in both tests. Their Left ears showed worse results, in the competitive condition of SSW. Individuals aged 65 or older had poorer performances than those aged 55 to 64.Conclusion: Central auditory tests showed worse performance with aging. The employment of a dichotic test in the auditory evaluation setting in the elderly may help in the early identification of degenerative processes, which are common among these patients.

Highlights

The increase in life expectancy is responsible for the growth in the elderly population throughout the world and, it has brought about different health care needs
The employment of a dichotic test in the auditory evaluation setting in the elderly may help in the early identification of degenerative processes, which are common among these patients
Paper submitted to the BJORL-SGP (Publishing Management System – Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology) on January 23, 2010; and accepted on June 28, 2010. cod. 6891

Summary

Introduction

The increase in life expectancy is responsible for the growth in the elderly population throughout the world and, it has brought about different health care needs. Health care professionals who follow this population must understand the changes that happen with aging, and hearing is among them. Presbycusis is defined as hearing loss associated with aging, arising from the summation of factors which cause physiological degeneration. The changes stemming from aging involve mainly the inner ear and the central auditory pathways. This hearing loss happens to individuals starting in their fifth decades of lives, and the hearing sensitivity changes affect mainly the high frequencies. Structural changes to the auditory nerve and the central auditory pathways are associated with aging and cause important drawbacks in speech recognition[1,2]

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