That other kind of age-related hearing loss

Most of us know about peripheral presbycusis, but what about that other kind of age-related hearing loss, central presbycusis?

• Who and When: 12.2% of people over the age of 74 years
• What: Hearing loss characterized by normal thresholds (<40 dBHL) and reduced speech discrimination, especially in the presence of background noise
• Why: Weakening of the brainstem and temporal cortex and/or global vascular degeneration
• Implications: Older adults with central presbycusis are twice as likely as adults with normal hearing or adults with peripheral presbycusis (i.e., hearing loss associated with the cochlea or auditory nerve malfunction) to have mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
• Take-home message: "[Treatment of] hearing impairment with hearing aids early on could greatly reduce or delay the onset of cognitive neurodegeneration," so says lead author, Rodolfo Sardone, AuD, The Great Age Study (2018) 

https://lnkd.in/ecChsQ9


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