Older adults hearing
Older adults should take hearing loss seriously
Sep
People may not realize relieving hearing loss could be a preventative step to ward off dementia.
“When people notice their vision is blurry, they visit an optometrist to avoid becoming blind. But when their hearing starts to worsen, a visit to an audiologist isn’t high on their list of priorities when it should be.” (Dreamstime)
By: Marilyn Reed University of Toronto, Dr. Claude Alain
Hearing loss is a common problem faced by older adults but is often left untreated.
At least one in four adults over the age of 50 experience hearing problems, but it’s shocking that it takes an average of 10 years before people seek treatment. Even then, less than 20 per cent of them will use hearing aids in their day-to-day lives.
When people notice their vision is blurry, they visit an optometrist to avoid becoming blind. But when their hearing starts to worsen, a visit to an audiologist isn’t high on their list of priorities when it should be.
People may not realize that relieving hearing loss could be a preventive step to ward off dementia. Untreated mid-life hearing loss increases a person’s dementia risk by 9 per cent, according to a recent international study by the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care. Those who can’t hear well have difficulty communicating and withdraw from social activities, contributing to a downward spiral of greater stress, fatigue, isolation and depression.
Over the last few decades, there’s been a shift in how scientists study hearing. When most people think about losing the ability to hear, they focus on how well the ear is functioning. But researchers have turned their attention towards the link between changes to the brain as we get older and its impact on our listening skills.
The ear and brain play their own roles when it comes to our ability to hear. Sound waves from the environment reach the ear, which converts the waves into nerve signals that the brain can understand. From there, the brain filters out a person’s speech from the background noise and processes it into words we comprehend. As a natural part of aging, the brain’s filtering and processing mechanisms don’t work as well, which explains why older adults may need others to speak up and slow down.
If you or a loved one find that people are often mumbling or speaking too fast to follow, that it’s difficult to hold a conversation in a restaurant or public place due to the background noise or you need to crank up the volume on the radio or television, these point to signs of hearing loss. If you notice ringing or pain in your ears or possess better hearing on one side, it’s time for a checkup.
In fact, sometimes hearing problems are masked as memory issues since they display similar symptoms, such as often asking someone to repeat information, not responding appropriately or missing an appointment due to a mix-up in dates.
If you have hearing concerns, there are phone apps available to screen for these issues, but it’s recommended you see an audiologist for a comprehensive hearing assessment. A family doctor can tell you if you require medical attention since a number of conditions can cause hearing loss, such as infection or even a simple buildup of ear wax.
Hearing aids are frequently recommended to tackle this problem, but some older adults resist using them due to the unfortunate stigma that comes with hearing loss. For those seeking another option, assistive listening devices, such as amplifiers on phones or TVs, can help.
But the reality is that while current technology can make sound louder, it can’t change how the brain processes the words we hear. As we get older, our brains have greater difficulty in blocking out unnecessary information, like separating background noise from the words someone says.
There are ways to boost a person’s hearing ability, such as focusing on visual cues or reducing background noise whenever possible. Some audiology clinics, such as the ones at Baycrest Health Sciences or the Canadian Hearing Society, offer classes on behavioural strategies to improve communication among those with hearing problems.
Rather than wait until it’s too late, there are steps you can take now.
• Turn down the volume. This sounds like obvious advice, but how many times have you stood next to a person on the subway and been able to hear the music they’re listening to. Consider setting volume control limits on all devices and don’t always have the music on to give the ears time to recover.
• Wear hearing protection when using power tools. There is legislation in place to keep workers safe from harmful noise levels, but it doesn’t help when people deafen themselves at home. When using a leaf blower, a lawn mower or other power tools, wear snug ear protection to reduce the sound.
• Wear hearing protection when travelling. Technological improvements have helped make plane engines quieter, but a person’s ears have a lower tolerance level when exposed to noise for an extended period of time, such as during a long flight. Studies have shown that frequent exposure to subways and train noises can lead to permanent hearing loss.
• Learn how to play a musical instrument or join a choir. Recent studies show that playing a musical instrument through adulthood helps to maintain listening skills that allows us to understand what a person is saying in noisy environments, such as in a coffee shop or restaurant. We’re exploring whether this same protective effect happens among those who start learning an instrument later on in life.
Marilyn Reed is an instructor with the University of Toronto’s Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Rehabilitation Sciences, and Practice Advisor with Baycrest’s Audiology Department. Dr. Claude Alain is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Medical Science and the Department of Psychology, and Senior Scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute who studies the brain in relation to hearing. Doctors’ Notes is a weekly column by members of the U of T Faculty of Medicine. Email doctorsnotes@thestar.ca.
