Abstract
To investigate the effect of choline alfoscerate (CA) on hearing amplification in patients with age related hearing loss, we performed a prospective case-control observational study from March 2016 to September 2020. We assessed patients with bilateral word recognition score (WRS) <50% using monosyllabic words. The patients were 65–85 years old, without any history of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, parkinsonism, or depression. After enrollment, all patients started using hearing aids (HA). The CA group received a daily dose of 800 mg CA for 11 months. We performed between-group comparisons of audiological data, including pure tone audiometry, WRS, HA fitting data obtained using real-ear measurement (REM), and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid benefit scores after treatment. After CA administration, the WRS improved significantly in the CA group (4.2 ± 8.3%), but deteriorated in the control group (−0.6 ± 8.1%, p = 0.035). However, there was no significant between-group difference in the change in pure tone thresholds and aided speech intelligibility index calculated from REM. These findings suggest that the difference in WRS was relevant to central speech understanding rather than peripheral audibility. Therefore, administering oral CA could effectively enrich listening comprehension in older HA users.
Highlights
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) or presbycusis is one of the most common neurodegenerative ailments in developed countries
Aided pure tone audiometry (PTA), word recognition score (WRS) at the most comfortable loudness level (MCL), speech intelligibility index (SII) calculation from rear-ear measurements and probe microphone measurement for speech mapping were performed at each visit
This study aimed to evaluate whether choline alfoscerate (CA) administration plays an adjuvant role in amplification for auditory perception, including audibility and speech discrimination, in older adults who are hearing aids (HA) users with a WRS of
Summary
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) or presbycusis is one of the most common neurodegenerative ailments in developed countries. It causes distorted communication and impedes older adults from participating in psychosocial activities due to social isolation, loss of self-esteem, and depression (Disease et al, 2016). As there is no cure for presbycusis, hearing aids (HAs) have been strongly recommended to allow enriched audibility, ease of communication (EC), and cognitive decline prevention in older adults (Livingston et al, 2020). Choline Alfoscerate and Auditory Cognition cortex; or cognitive decline in various domains, including executive function, language memory, situational and semantic long-term memory, and psychomotor processing (Humes et al, 2012; Ronnberg et al, 2013; Panza et al, 2015). There is no evidence regarding the apparent direction of causality (Akeroyd, 2008; Humes et al, 2012; Murphy et al, 2018)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
