Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is a common medical condition among older adults with a prevalence of >50% in people aged 60 years or older [1]. It causes the sufferers to lose the ability to efficiently communicate with family, peer group, and work place. It leads to chronic stress and is associated with significant psychological and medical co-morbidity, such as social isolation, cognitive decline, and depression [2].

Etiology

Multiple genetic and environmental factors are involved. Environmental factors include noise exposure, ototoxin exposure, infections, smoking, and comorbidities like hypertension or diabetes. There are distinct between-subject differences regarding onset, pathology, and form of impairment. Critical for speech intelligibility are frequencies between 55–7,040 Hz (7 octaves).

Hearing Aids

Patients typically report improved quality of life with use of hearing aids but commonly complain that they cannot understand speech, especially in the presence of background noise. Despite implementation of noise-reduction strategies and directional-microphones, everyday communication through hearing aids has still really frustrating limits at present.

What You Can Do About It

For adults with hearing loss, auditory training can facilitate communication in noisy situations as it almost always leads to an improved speech intelligibility [3]. Also, auditory training on a regular basis counteracts feelings of helplessness and cognitive decline very efficiently – getting involved and doing something about it is the most important step to successfully cope with hearing loss.

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