Relationship Between Hearing Thresholds and Cognitive Function in Hearing Aid Non-users and Long-term Users Post-midlife

Overview

Journal NPJ Aging

Publisher Springer Nature

Specialty Geriatrics

Date 2025 Feb 24

PMID 39994290

Authors

Takanori Nishiyama

Tomomi Kimizuka

Chinatsu Kataoka

Mami Tazoe

Yasunori Sato

Makoto Hosoya

Marie N Shimanuki

Takeshi Wakabayashi

Masafumi Ueno

Hiroyuki Ozawa

Naoki Oishi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The extent of hearing loss requiring hearing aid (HA) to prevent cognitive decline is unclear; we assessed this post-midlife along with the relationship between hearing thresholds and cognitive function in those who had never used HA (non-users) or used HAs for >3 years (long-term users). This study comprised 117 individuals ≥55 years with an average hearing threshold of ≥25 dB HL in their better ear and 55 of the non-users and 62 of the long-term users. The Mini-Mental State Examination, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), and pure-tone and sound-field audiometry were assessed. Mean ± SD hearing levels of the non-user and long-term user group were 40.83 ± 8.16 and 51.13 ± 14.80 dB HL. Non-users showed a significant association (P = 0.01) between the hearing thresholds and SDMT scores, with a cutoff value of above 38.75 dB HL identified as affecting cognitive function. There were no significant associations for long-term users.

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