Preliminary findings from a study relating the effects of hearing loss and listening conditions on postural sway to fall risk in older adults

Abstract

Hearing loss is associated with increased fall risk in older adults, but multiple mechanisms have been proposed to account for this. Hearing loss may reduce spatial awareness and/or increase cognitive load, both of which may increase fall risk but may be ameliorated by hearing aid use. Here, we present preliminary results from an in-progress study comparing fall incidence in daily life with postural sway measured under various listening conditions in older adults with and without hearing aids. Seventeen adults aged 65 to 81 years (7 using bilateral hearing aids, 10 without) stood with feet together and eyes closed, listening to noise vocoded speech (4, 8, 16 channels) and spatially distributed environmental sounds (silence, 1, 3 sources) for 1min per condition while postural sway was recorded in the lab. Participants subsequently reported daily near-falls and falls for 4 months. Results suggest hearing aid users show less postural sway, potentially indicating greater rigidity which has been associated with greater fall risk. However, near-fall incidence was lower for hearing aid users. Further analyses showed higher near-fall rates associated with higher auditory thresholds, but hearing aid use may mitigate this trend. We are currently collecting more data with a wider variety of participants.