Hearing Loss in the Elderly

Abstract

Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss (ARHL), is the result of physiologic and pathologic changes associated with advancing age. ARHL presents typically with a high-frequency hearing loss, which contributes to greater trouble hearing consonants within words. Consonants convey the bulk of meaning within a word, and this loss of linguistic information results in complaints associated with ARHL. Hearing aids and cochlear implants significantly improve the lives of older adults with hearing loss, in particular, those with depression and dementia. Successful current research in gene therapy, pharmacotherapy, and stems cells holds the promise of being able to restore native cochlear function.