Age-related hearing loss and the effects of hearing aids

Jeesun Choi; Won-Ho Chung

doi:10.5124/jkma.2011.54.9.918

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Choi and Chung: Age-related hearing loss and the effects of hearing aids

Focused Issue of This Month

Hearing loss in the aging society

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2011; 54(9): 918-924.

Published online: 15 September 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2011.54.9.918

Age-related hearing loss and the effects of hearing aids

Jeesun Choi, MD, Won-Ho Chung, MD

Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Won-Ho Chung, whchung@skku.edu

Received 20 June 2011 Accepted 5 July 2011

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis, is the progressive hearing loss that occurs as people get older. With presbycusis, the hearing threshold is increased, especially at high frequencies and speech perception is decreased in noisy environments. In addition, presbycusis may have adverse effects on the cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial functioning of the elderly. They may feel social isolation, depression, and loss of self-esteem. The pathophysiology of presbycusis is explained by age-related changes in the inner ear, the auditory system and the central nervous system. There is no single cause of presbycusis. It is a complex disease influenced by genetic, environmental, and psychosocial factors, as well as medical conditions. Hearing loss is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting the elderly. The population aged 65 years and older is now increasing at a rapid rate. Approximately 40% of people over 75 years of age are suffering from hearing loss. Because presbycusis is permanent and irreversible, there is no specific treatment to restore hearing loss. Because hearing loss in the elderly is closely related with quality of life, prevention and hearing rehabilitation programs using hearing aids are very important. In an aging society like Korea, an increase in social costs is inevitable for the welfare of the elderly. In particular, prevention and rehabilitation programs for hearing loss will play important roles in this perspective.

Keywords: Presbycusis, Prevention & control, Rehabilitation, Hearing aids

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