Effects Of Age-related Hearing Loss Research Articles

Noise-Induced and Age-Related Hearing Loss in Korea

Recently, reports of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) have sharply risen among workers in South Korea, almost 20-fold in 2022, compared to 2012. This is presumably because NIHL is combined with age-related hearing loss. For the correct diagnosis of NIHL, therefore, the effect of aging that contributes to threshold shifts is should be excluded, and that would require scrutinizing of various established methods. Additionally, international and domestic data from large cross-sectional studies may provide new insights in excluding the effect of age-related hearing loss in individuals in which threshold shifts occurred. This paper comprises the recommendations for the diagnosis and quantification of NIHL in a medico-legal context.

Sensory Reweighting for Postural Control in Older Adults with Age-Related Hearing Loss.

There is growing evidence linking hearing impairments and the deterioration of postural stability in older adults. To our knowledge, however, no study to date has investigated the effect of age-related hearing loss on the sensory reweighting process during postural control. In the absence of data, much is unknown about the possible mechanisms, both deleterious and compensatory, that could underly the deterioration of postural control following hearing loss in the elderly. The aim of this study was to empirically examine sensory reweighting for postural control in older adults with age-related hearing loss as compared to older adults with normal hearing. The center of pressure of all participants was recorded using a force platform and the modified clinical test of sensory interaction and balance protocol. The results suggest that individuals with age-related hearing loss displayed increased somatosensory reliance relative to normal hearing younger adults. This increased reliance on somatosensory input does not appear to be effective in mitigating the loss of postural control, probably due to the concomitant deterioration of tactile and proprioceptive sensitivity and acuity associated with aging. Beyond helping to further define the role of auditory perception in postural control, these results further the understanding of sensory-related mechanisms associated with postural instability in older adults.

Effect of age-related hearing loss on cognitive function and sound localization

Effect of age-related hearing loss on cognitive function and sound localization

Investigation of the effect of age-related hearing loss on visual memory

Aim: To investigate the effect of age-related hearing loss on visual memory.
 Material and Method: 20 participants with normal hearing loss and 38 participants with hearing loss were included in the study. All of the patients were older than 65 years. Pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and Benton visual retention test were applied to all participants.
 Results: Mean Benton test score of the hearing-normal and the hearing loss group were 13.10±1.48 and 8.81±3.27 respectively. Patients were divided into three groups as hearing-normal, hearing loss with WRS greater than 80% and hearing loss with WRS lower than 80%. In terms of Benton scores there was statistically significant difference between groups (p

The Impact of Hearing Loss and Hearing Aid Usage on the Visuospatial Abilities of Older Adults in a Cohort of Combined Hearing and Cognitive Impairment.

IntroductionIt has been proposed that hearing loss may result in improved visuospatial abilities. The evidence for this assertion is inconsistent, and limited to studies in congenitally deaf children, despite older adults with age-related hearing loss constituting the vast majority of the hearing impaired population. We assessed visuospatial (visuoconstruction and visuospatial memory) ability in older adult hearing aid users with and without clinically significant cognitive impairment. The primary aim of the study was to determine the effect of hearing loss on visuospatial abilities.MethodSeventy-five adult hearing aid users (HA) aged over 65 were recruited, out of whom 30 had normal cognition (NC-HA), 30 had mild cognitive impairment (MCI-HA), and 15 had dementia (D-HA). The Rey Osterrieth Complex figure test (ROCFT) copy, 3 min recall and 30 min recall tests were performed to evaluate the visuoconstructional and visuospatial memory abilities of the participants.ResultsThere were significant differences between the ROCFT copy, 3 min recall, and 30 min recall among the three cohorts (p < 0.005). Compared with previously published normative data, the NC-HA performed significantly better in the ROCFT copy (p < 0.001), immediate recall (p < 0.001), and delay recall (p = 0.001), while the MCI-HA performed similarly to the expected norms derived from population (p = 0.426, p = 0.611, p = 0.697, respectively), and the D-HA performed below this norm.ConclusionThough visuospatial abilities tend to decline when the global cognitive functioning declines, we found suggestive evidence for positive effects of age-related hearing loss on visuospatial cognitive ability. Participants with mild cognitive impairment and hearing loss, who would have been expected to perform worse than normative data, were in fact performing as well as cognitively healthy subjects without hearing loss. Visuospatial ability could be targeted when providing rehabilitation for the older adults with hearing loss.

The Role of Eye Color in the Emergence of Tinnitus in Silence.

Introduction Previous research suggests that African Americans are less likely than Caucasians to perceive tinnitus in sustained silence. Objective To evaluate the association between non-cutaneous melanin as indicated by eye color and the emergence of temporary tinnitus during a brief period of silence. Methods A cross-section of adults grouped according to their eye color were exposed to silence. A total of 62 adults, aged 18 to 35 years (10 males, 52 females) were required to sit in silence for 10 minutes, after which they filled out a questionnaire to report their eye color and any perception of sounds in the ears or head. Results In total, 63% of the participants perceived tinnitus while sitting in silence, and, of these 95% perceived the tinnitus sounds within 5 minutes of sitting in silence. Though African Americans were less likely to perceive tinnitus in silence, this difference was not significant ( p = 0.6). After a period of silence, 69% of the subjects with light-colored eyes and 58% of the dark-eyed subjects perceived tinnitus. This difference was not statistically significant (χ 2 (1) = 0.77; p = 0.38). Conclusion When exposed to reduced auditory stimulation, 3 out of 5 normal-hearing people are likely to experience tinnitus. However, there was no relationship between eye color and the perception of tinnitus in silence. Although melanin has been shown to play a role in the protection of the ear against noise trauma and the effects of age-related hearing loss, its role in the emergence of tinnitus needs further investigation.

Effects of age-related hearing loss and hearing aid experience on sentence processing

Age-related hearing loss typically affects the hearing of high frequencies in older adults. Such hearing loss influences the processing of spoken language, including higher-level processing such as that of complex sentences. Hearing aids may alleviate some of the speech processing disadvantages associated with hearing loss. However, little is known about the relation between hearing loss, hearing aid use, and their effects on higher-level language processes. This neuroimaging (fMRI) study examined these factors by measuring the comprehension and neural processing of simple and complex spoken sentences in hard-of-hearing older adults (n = 39). Neither hearing loss severity nor hearing aid experience influenced sentence comprehension at the behavioral level. In contrast, hearing loss severity was associated with increased activity in left superior frontal areas and the left anterior insula, but only when processing specific complex sentences (i.e. object-before-subject) compared to simple sentences. Longer hearing aid experience in a sub-set of participants (n = 19) was associated with recruitment of several areas outside of the core speech processing network in the right hemisphere, including the cerebellum, the precentral gyrus, and the cingulate cortex, but only when processing complex sentences. Overall, these results indicate that brain activation for language processing is affected by hearing loss as well as subsequent hearing aid use. Crucially, they show that these effects become apparent through investigation of complex but not simple sentences.

Cognitive Hearing Science: Three Memory Systems, Two Approaches, and the Ease of Language Understanding Model.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to conceptualize the subtle balancing act between language input and prediction (cognitive priming of future input) to achieve understanding of communicated content. When understanding fails, reconstructive postdiction is initiated. Three memory systems play important roles: working memory (WM), episodic long-term memory (ELTM), and semantic long-term memory (SLTM). The axiom of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model is that explicit WM resources are invoked by a mismatch between language input-in the form of rapid automatic multimodal binding of phonology-and multimodal phonological and lexical representations in SLTM. However, if there is a match between rapid automatic multimodal binding of phonology output and SLTM/ELTM representations, language processing continues rapidly and implicitly. Method and Results In our first ELU approach, we focused on experimental manipulations of signal processing in hearing aids and background noise to cause a mismatch with LTM representations; both resulted in increased dependence on WM. Our second-and main approach relevant for this review article-focuses on the relative effects of age-related hearing loss on the three memory systems. According to the ELU, WM is predicted to be frequently occupied with reconstruction of what was actually heard, resulting in a relative disuse of phonological/lexical representations in the ELTM and SLTM systems. The prediction and results do not depend on test modality per se but rather on the particular memory system. This will be further discussed. Conclusions Related to the literature on ELTM decline as precursors of dementia and the fact that the risk for Alzheimer's disease increases substantially over time due to hearing loss, there is a possibility that lowered ELTM due to hearing loss and disuse may be part of the causal chain linking hearing loss and dementia. Future ELU research will focus on this possibility.

Effect of Age-Related Hearing Loss on Neuropsychological Test Performance

Effect of Age-Related Hearing Loss on Neuropsychological Test Performance

Age-related hearing loss accelerates cerebrospinal fluid tau levels and brain atrophy: a longitudinal study.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) has been considered as a promising modifiable risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. Nonetheless, it is still unclear whether age-related hearing loss associates with neurodegenerative biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Participants with ARHL were selected from the established Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. In multivariable models, the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of ARHL with CSF β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau measurements, brain Aβ load, and cortical structural measures were explored. ARHL was associated with higher CSF levels of tau (p < 0.001) or ptau181 (p < 0.05) at baseline as well as faster elevation rates of these two types of biomarkers (p < 0.05). Although the baseline volume/thickness of hippocampus (p < 0.05) and entorhinal cortex (p < 0.0005) were higher in individuals with ARHL, these two regions (p < 0.01 for hippocampus, p < 0.05 for entorhinal cortex) displayed significantly accelerated atrophy in individuals with ARHL. No association of ARHL with CSF or brain Aβ levels was found. Subgroup analyses indicated that the above effects of ARHL were more significant in non-demented stage. Age-related hearing loss was associated with elevated cerebrospinal fluid tau levels and atrophy of entorhinal cortex.

Aging and hearing loss effects on neural speech processing

The effects of age-related hearing loss are pervasive, resulting in declines in social, emotional, and cognitive function. As the world becomes a quieter place, the decrease in sensory input from the auditory periphery may trigger homeostatic mechanisms to preserve a stable rate of neural firing at higher levels of the auditory system from brainstem to cortex. For example, decreased inhibitory neurotransmission increases neural excitability, preserving the sensation of loudness for moderate to moderately loud conversational speech levels. However, this change in the balance of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission may disrupt the brain’s ability to follow the rapid acoustic changes that are characteristic of running speech. Age-related disruptions in auditory processing of synthesized syllables and naturally-produced words and sentences have been demonstrated using electrophysiology (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). This presentation will review a series of EEG and MEG studies demonstrating effects of aging and/or hearing loss that vary depending on factors associated with type of hearing loss, stimulus choice, and primary neural source (midbrain versus cortex). Clinical implications for hearing loss management will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH-NIDCD, R21 DC015843-01.]

The association between obesity, diet quality and hearing loss in older adults.

Background: With the aging population, the prevalence of age-related hearing loss will increase substantially. Prevention requires more knowledge on modifiable risk factors. Obesity and diet quality have been suggested to play a role in the etiology of age-related hearing loss. We aimed to investigate independent associations of body composition and diet quality with age-related hearing loss.Methods: We performed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses (follow-up: 4.4 years) in the population-based Rotterdam Study. At baseline (2006-2014), 2,906 participants underwent assessment of body composition, diet, and hearing. Of these 2,906 participants, 636 had hearing assessment at follow-up (2014-2016). Association of body composition and of diet quality with hearing loss were examined using multivariable linear regression models.Results: Cross-sectionally, higher body mass index and fat mass index were associated with increased hearing thresholds. These associations did not remain statistically significant at follow-up. We found no associations between overall diet quality and hearing thresholds.Conclusions: This study shows that a higher body mass index, and in particular a higher fat mass index, is related to age-related hearing loss. However, whether maintaining a healthy body composition may actually reduce the effects of age-related hearing loss in the aging population requires further longitudinal population-based research.

Auditory Processing Performance of the Middle-Aged and Elderly: Auditory or Cognitive Decline?

Despite the well-established relationship between aging and auditory processing decline, identifying the extent to which age effect is the main factor on auditory processing performance remains a great challenge due to the co-occurrence of age-related hearing loss and age-related cognitive decline as potential confounding factors. To investigate the effects of age-related hearing loss and working memory on the clinical evaluation of auditory processing of middle-aged and elderly. Cross-sectional study. A total of 77 adults between 50 and 70 yr of age were invited to participate in the study. The participants were recruited from a larger study that focused on the assessment and management of sensory and cognitive skills in elderly participants. Only participants with normal hearing or mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss, with no evidence of cognitive, psychological, or neurological conditions were included. Speech-in-noise, dichotic digit, and frequency pattern tests were conducted as well as a working memory test. The hearing loss effect was investigated using an audibility index, calculated from the audiometric threshold. The performance on the digit span test was used to investigate working memory effects. Both hearing loss and working memory effects were investigated via correlation and regression analyses, partialling out age effects. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. The results demonstrated that, while hearing loss was associated to the speech-in-noise performance, working memory was associated to the frequency pattern and dichotic digit performances. Regression analyses confirmed the relative contribution of hearing loss to the variance in speech-in-noise and working memory test to the variance in frequency pattern and dichotic digit test performance. The performance decline of the elderly in auditory processing tests may be partially attributable to the working memory performance and, consequently, to the cognitive decline exhibited by this population. Mild-to-moderate hearing loss seems to affect performance on specific auditory processing tasks, such as speech in noise, reinforcing the idea that auditory processing disorder in the elderly might also be associated to auditory peripheral deficits.

Speech communication in older adults: an acoustic and perceptual investigation – ESRC

Speech communication can be difficult for older people, due to the combined effects of age-related hearing loss, which is common over the age of 65, age-related decline in the quality of phonation and speech articulation, and cognitive problems such as poorer short-term memory and processing speed. Past studies of how older individuals perceive and produce speech sounds have tended to consider these abilities independently of each other using controlled materials, such as read words or sentences. These studies tell us little about how older speakers function when using speech for communicative purposes, and how these various factors interact. In our project, we gained a comprehensive account of older people's speech production and perception in situations involving communication with another individual. Older adults with age-related hearing loss and the rarer group of older adults with normal hearing were included in the study, as well as younger adult controls. In Study 1, participants were recorded while they completed a problem-solving task with another person. Communication between the participants was either in good listening conditions, where both speakers could hear each other normally, or in adverse conditions. There, one of the participants had to get their message across to another speaker who has a simulated hearing loss or when both were speaking in a noisy background. These comparisons enabled us to get a sense of the degree to which an older person is able to adapt their speech to overcome difficult listening conditions, a skill which is of paramount importance in speech communication in everyday life. High-quality recordings were made of these interactions and these were used to carry out acoustic analyses of their speech and also analyses of interactional features such as eye gaze and turn-taking. In Study 2, older and younger listeners with normal and impaired hearing were presented some of the materials recorded in Study 1 in good and adverse listening conditions. Intelligibility tests will be run to see what impact age and hearing status have on speech understanding and to see whether the 'clear speech' adaptations made by older speakers to counter the effects of poor communication conditions gave the same benefit to that of younger speakers. This project aims to lead to a better understanding of the effects of ageing on speech communication and of the various contributing factors to potentially degraded speech communication in a population of 'healthy aged' individuals. These benchmarks will be of use for practitioners such as speech and language therapists and audiologists who work on aspects of communication with older people who have health complications. A better understanding of communication difficulties that older individuals experience and of their strategies to overcome these difficulties also assists professionals such as social workers and care professionals who work to improve quality of life for older people, as well as developers of speech technology devices for telemedicine and remote monitoring. Importantly, this research also contributes to our basic understanding of speech perception and production development across the lifespan.

Disregarding hearing loss leads to overestimation of age-related cognitive decline

Aging is associated with cognitive and sensory decline. While several studies have indicated greater cognitive decline among older adults with hearing loss, the extent to which age-related differences in cognitive processing may have been overestimated due to group differences in sensory processing has remained unclear. We addressed this question by comparing younger adults, older adults with good hearing, and older adults with poor hearing in several cognitive domains: working memory, selective attention, processing speed, inhibitory control, and abstract reasoning. Furthermore, we examined whether sensory-related cognitive decline depends on cognitive demands and on the sensory modality used for assessment. Our results revealed that age-related cognitive deficits in most cognitive domains varied as a function of hearing loss, being more pronounced in older adults with poor hearing. Furthermore, sensory-related cognitive decline was observed across different levels of cognitive demands and independent of the sensory modality used for cognitive assessment, suggesting a generalized effect of age-related hearing loss on cognitive functioning. As most cognitive aging studies have not taken sensory acuity into account, age-related cognitive decline may have been overestimated.

Effectiveness of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly (HHIE) in Measuring the Current State of Presbycusis

Objectives: The goal of this study is to discern the effects of age-related hearing loss using the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Elderly (HHIE) via a smartphone platform with elderly individuals who are urban residents. Methods: Ninety-two elderly 65 years of age or older participated in this study...

Effect of age-related hearing loss on the click-rate-induced facilitation of acoustic reflex thresholds

Objective: This investigation was designed to evaluate the effect of age-related hearing loss on the click-rate-induced improvement in the acoustic reflex thresholds. Design: Case–control study. Study sample: Data from five different adults ear-groups (15 ears each) were included in the study: 1. Younger with normal hearing. 2. Older with normal hearing. 3. Older with mild high-frequency loss. 4. Older with moderate high-frequency loss. 5. Older with low- and high-frequency loss. Ipsilateral acoustic reflex thresholds were obtained from the left and/or right ear/s by presenting clicks at the repetition rates of 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 clicks/s. The rate-induced facilitation (RIF) was calculated by subtracting the lowest acoustic reflex threshold from the highest reflex threshold obtained across the various click-rates. Results: The click-RIF is significantly reduced in older individuals compared to younger adults. There is no significant difference in RIF across the four older adult groups suggesting that an age-related, mild to moderate hearing loss has no significant effect on the click RIF of the acoustic reflex thresholds. Conclusions: Click-RIF may allow us to document the effect of ageing on temporal processing within the auditory brainstem area, in a time-efficient and objective manner using commercially available equipment.

Application-Based Hearing Screening in the Elderly Population.

The effects of age-related hearing loss are severe. Early detection is essential for maximum benefit. However, most hearing-impaired adults delay obtaining treatment. Diagnostic hearing testing at an appropriate facility is impractical, and new methods for screening audiometry aim to provide easy access for patients and reliable outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of application-based hearing screening in an elderly population. The uHear application was downloaded to an iPad. Application-based hearing screening was performed in a non-soundproofed quiet room, and subsequently all participants underwent full diagnostic audiometry in a soundproof booth. Sixty patients were recruited and completed both tests. Significant differences were observed between the hearing results obtained with the application and the standard audiogram at all frequencies and in both ears. Following subtraction of a constant factor of 25 dB from the application-based results in order to compensate for ambient noise, no significant differences in pure tone average were found between the 2 methods. The uHear application is inaccurate in assessing hearing thresholds for screening in the elderly. However, when site-specifically corrected, the uHear application may be used as a screening tool for hearing loss in an elderly population.

Effects of Hearing Loss on Dual-Task Performance in an Audiovisual Virtual Reality Simulation of Listening While Walking.

Most activities of daily living require the dynamic integration of sights, sounds, and movements as people navigate complex environments. Nevertheless, little is known about the effects of hearing loss (HL) or hearing aid (HA) use on listening during multitasking challenges. The objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of age-related hearing loss (ARHL) on word recognition accuracy in a dual-task experiment. Virtual reality (VR) technologies in a specialized laboratory (Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory) were used to produce a controlled and safe simulated environment for listening while walking. In a simulation of a downtown street intersection, participants completed two single-task conditions, listening-only (standing stationary) and walking-only (walking on a treadmill to cross the simulated intersection with no speech presented), and a dual-task condition (listening while walking). For the listening task, they were required to recognize words spoken by a target talker when there was a competing talker. For some blocks of trials, the target talker was always located at 0° azimuth (100% probability condition); for other blocks, the target talker was more likely (60% of trials) to be located at the center (0° azimuth) and less likely (40% of trials) to be located at the left (270° azimuth). The participants were eight older adults with bilateral HL (mean age = 73.3 yr, standard deviation [SD] = 8.4; three males) who wore their own HAs during testing and eight controls with normal hearing (NH) thresholds (mean age = 69.9 yr, SD = 5.4; two males). No participant had clinically significant visual, cognitive, or mobility impairments. Word recognition accuracy and kinematic parameters (head and trunk angles, step width and length, stride time, cadence) were analyzed using mixed factorial analysis of variances with group as a between-subjects factor. Task condition (single versus dual) and probability (100% versus 60%) were within-subject factors. In analyses of the 60% listening condition, spatial expectation (likely versus unlikely) was a within-subject factor. Differences between groups in age and baseline measures of hearing, mobility, and cognition were tested using t tests. The NH group had significantly better word recognition accuracy than the HL group. Both groups performed better when the probability was higher and the target location more likely. For word recognition, dual-task costs for the HL group did not depend on condition, whereas the NH group demonstrated a surprising dual-task benefit in conditions with lower probability or spatial expectation. For the kinematic parameters, both groups demonstrated a more upright and less variable head position and more variable trunk position during dual-task conditions compared to the walking-only condition, suggesting that safe walking was prioritized. The HL group demonstrated more overall stride time variability than the NH group. This study provides new knowledge about the effects of ARHL, HA use, and aging on word recognition when individuals also perform a mobility-related task that is typically experienced in everyday life. This research may help inform the development of more effective function-based approaches to assessment and intervention for people who are hard-of-hearing.

Prestin-Dependence of Outer Hair Cell Survival and Partial Rescue of Outer Hair Cell Loss in PrestinV499G/Y501H Knockin Mice.

A knockin (KI) mouse expressing mutated prestin V499G/Y501H (499 prestin) was created to study cochlear amplification. Recordings from isolated outer hair cells (OHC) in this mutant showed vastly reduced electromotility and, as a consequence, reduced hearing sensitivity. Although 499 prestin OHCs were normal in stiffness and longer than OHCs lacking prestin, accelerated OHC death was unexpectedly observed relative to that documented in prestin knockout (KO) mice. These observations imply an additional role of prestin in OHC maintenance besides its known requirement for mammalian cochlear amplification. In order to gain mechanistic insights into prestin-associated OHC loss, we implemented several interventions to improve survival. First, 499 prestin KI’s were backcrossed to Bak KO mice, which lack the mitochondrial pro-apoptotic gene Bak. Because oxidative stress is implicated in OHC death, another group of 499 prestin KI mice was fed the antioxidant diet, Protandim. 499 KI mice were also backcrossed onto the FVB murine strain, which retains excellent high-frequency hearing well into adulthood, to reduce the compounding effect of age-related hearing loss associated with the original 499 prestin KIs. Finally, a compound heterozygous (chet) mouse expressing one copy of 499 prestin and one copy of KO prestin was also created to reduce quantities of 499 prestin protein. Results show reduction in OHC death in chets, and in 499 prestin KIs on the FVB background, but only a slight improvement in OHC survival for mice receiving Protandim. We also report that improved OHC survival in 499 prestin KIs had little effect on hearing phenotype, reaffirming the original contention about the essential role of prestin’s motor function in cochlear amplification.