Hearing Loss in Older Adults: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

This report provides an overview of hearing loss in older adults, focusing on its causes and consequences. The report highlights the impact of presbycusis, the age-related hearing loss, and its connection to noise exposure. It describes the various challenges that older adults face due to hearing loss, including difficulties in communication, potential cognitive decline, and increased risks of social isolation. The report references several studies and research papers that support the claims made, including the impact of hearing loss on depression and the importance of addressing the issue to improve the quality of life for older adults. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for interventions and management strategies for hearing loss.

Running head: HEARING LOSS
Hearing loss
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

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HEARING LOSS
Table of Contents
Conditions leading to hearing impairment.................................................................................2
Associated challenges for older adults.......................................................................................2
References..................................................................................................................................3

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Conditions leading to hearing impairment
The assignment discusses hearing loss in older adults and the associated challenges
with it .There are myriad of conditions resulting in hearing loss in old age people. Most of the
times, the hearing loss occurs due to natural ageing of the auditory system and has been
termed as presbycusis. It occurs to due to the loss of nerve hair cells in the cochlea, which is
brought about by repeated daily exposure to noise over a lifetime. As commented by Peelle &
Wingfield (2016), presbycusis can affect individual ability to understand conversations in
noisy situations.
Associated challenges for older adults
Presbycusis or sensorineural hearing loss occurs as one gets old. In presbycusis, the
speech may sound muffled to the aged person affected with the condition and the speaker has
to repeat himself several times over (Kujawa & Liberman, 2015). As commented by
Quaranta et al. (2015), people with hearing loss experience 30-40% cognitive decline. As
supported by Mick, Kawachi & Lin (2014), untreated hearing impairment can lead to
depression, anxiety and paranoia in the aged population. Aged people with untreated hearing
losses are more likely to develop dementia and have less confidence compared to their peers
with normal hearing potential (Vaden et al., 2016).

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References
Kujawa, S. G., & Liberman, M. C. (2015). Synaptopathy in the noise-exposed and aging
cochlea: Primary neural degeneration in acquired sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing
research, 330, 191-199.
Mick, P., Kawachi, I., & Lin, F. R. (2014). The association between hearing loss and social
isolation in older adults. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 150(3), 378-384.
Peelle, J. E., & Wingfield, A. (2016). The neural consequences of age-related hearing
loss. Trends in neurosciences, 39(7), 486-497.
Quaranta, N., Coppola, F., Casulli, M., Barulli, M.R., Panza, F., Tortelli, R., Solfrizzi, V.,
Sabbà, C. and Logroscino, G., 2015. Epidemiology of age related hearing loss: a
review. Hearing, Balance and Communication, 13(2), pp.77-81.
Vaden Jr, K. I., Kuchinsky, S. E., Ahlstrom, J. B., Teubner-Rhodes, S. E., Dubno, J. R., &
Eckert, M. A. (2016). Cingulo-opercular function during word recognition in noise for
older adults with hearing loss. Experimental aging research, 42(1), 67-82.
Wayne, R. V., & Johnsrude, I. S. (2015). A review of causal mechanisms underlying the link
between age-related hearing loss and cognitive decline. Ageing research reviews, 23,
154-166.