The Correlation between Hearing Loss, especially High-frequency Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline among the Elderly

Introduction This study is oriented to the role of hearing loss especially high-frequency hearing loss in cognitive impairment among elderly people (age≥60 years), to explore the relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline and the underline mechanism, providing a theoretical basis for early detection and prevention of senile cognitive decline in clinical practice. Materials & methods The MoCA and pure tone audiometry were used to investigate the hearing loss and cognitive function of 201 elderly people over 60 years old. This study consisted of two parts. First, univariate analysis and multiple linear regressions were performed to analyze the possible influencing factors of cognitive function among the 201 elderly people. Second, average hearing thresholds of low frequencies (250,500Hz), intermediate frequencies (1k,2kHz) and high frequencies (4k,8kHz) were calculated to screen out 40 cases with high-frequency hearing loss alone (HHL) and 18 cases with normal hearing (NH).

Result We found the age, education experience, duration of self-reported hearing loss and hypertension were independent factors (p<0.05). There were only 18 (9.0%) cases with normal hearing, and 40 (19.9%) cases with abnormal high-frequency hearing alone. The overall cognitive function showed no significant difference between them (P>0.05), in contrast, the speech and abstract ability were significantly decreased in cases with high-frequency hearing loss alone (P<0.05).

Conclusion Age, hypertension, years of self-reported hearing loss, and years of education are independent related factors for cognitive decline among the elderly. Pure high-frequency hearing loss may affect the speech and abstract ability of elderly patients, but not significantly affect their global cognitive function.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
12. Mai 2023