Abstract
Presbycusis is gradual hearing loss in both ears that commonly occurs as people age. Presbycusis is a complex phenomenon characterized by audiometric threshold shift, deterioration in speech-understanding and speech-perception difficulties in a noisy environment. Factors contributing to presbycusis include mitochondria DNA mutation, genetic disorders, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic disease and other systemic diseases in the intrinsic aspects. Extrinsic factors include noise, ototoxic medication and diet. However, presbycusis may not be related to the intrinsic and extrinsic factors separately. Presbycusis can greatly affect one's quality of life; impaired hearing restricts communication and untreated presbycusis could result in social isolation and even depression. Current amplification methods related to auditory rehabilitation can provide improved communication ability to users. Nevertheless, only a minority of elderly people with impaired hearing use hearing aids. The purpose of this review is to raise the awareness of presbycusis, to update our current understanding of presbycusis with a focus on age-related deficits in auditory and cognitive processing of speech and to explore strategies of prevention, identification, amplification, and aural rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of hearing health care and the overall quality of life of older adults.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. 2011-0030072).
References
2. Davis A. Hearing in adults: the prevalence and distribution of hearing impairment and reported hearing disability in the MRC Institute of Hearing Research's National Study of Hearing. London: Whurr Publishers;1995. p. 43–321.
3. Dobie RA. The burdens of age-related and occupational noise-induced hearing loss in the United States. Ear Hear. 2008; 29:565–577.
4. Ministry of Health and Welfare. Statistics annual report 2000 [Internet]. Sejong (KR): Ministry of Health and Welfare;c2015. cited 2015 Jan 19. Available from: http://stat.mw.go.kr/.
5. Choi J, Chung WH. Age-related hearing loss and the effects of hearing aids. J Korean Med Assoc. 2011; 54:918–924.
6. Mick P, Kawachi I, Lin FR. The association between hearing loss and social isolation in older adults. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2014; 150:378–384.
7. Chia EM, Wang JJ, Rochtchina E, Cumming RR, Newall P, Mitchell P. Hearing impairment and health-related quality of life: the Blue Mountains Hearing Study. Ear Hear. 2007; 28:187–195.
8. Schuknecht HF. Further observations on the pathology of presbycusis. Arch Otolaryngol. 1964; 80:369–382.
9. Schuknecht HF, Gacek MR. Cochlear pathology in presbycusis. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1993; 102:1–16.
10. Nadol JB Jr. Electron microscopic findings in presbycusic degeneration of the basal turn of the human cochlea. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1979; 87:818–836.
11. Huh Y, Park DC, Yeo SG, Cha CI. Evidence for increased NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons in the central auditory system of the aged rat. Acta Otolaryngol. 2008; 128:648–653.
12. Du Z, Yang Q, Liu L, Li S, Zhao J, Hu J, et al. NADPH oxidase 2-dependent oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage and apoptosis in the ventral cochlear nucleus of d-galactose-induced aging rats. Neuroscience. 2015; 286:281–292.
13. Groschel M, Hubert N, Muller S, Ernst A, Basta D. Age-dependent changes of calcium related activity in the central auditory pathway. Exp Gerontol. 2014; 58:235–243.
14. Strehler BL. Aging: a challenge to science, society, and the individual. Clin Geriatr Med. 1985; 1:5–13.
15. Garringer HJ, Pankratz ND, Nichols WC, Reed T. Hearing impairment susceptibility in elderly men and the DFNA18 locus. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2006; 132:506–510.
16. Kane KL, Longo-Guess CM, Gagnon LH, Ding D, Salvi RJ, Johnson KR. Genetic background effects on age-related hearing loss associated with Cdh23 variants in mice. Hear Res. 2012; 283:80–88.
17. Zhu M, Yang T, Wei S, DeWan AT, Morell RJ, Elfenbein JL. Mutations in the gamma-actin gene (ACTG1) are associated with dominant progressive deafness (DFNA20/26). Am J Hum Genet. 2003; 73:1082–1091.
18. Sindhusake D, Mitchell P, Smith W, Golding M, Newall P, Hartley D, et al. Validation of self-reported hearing loss. The Blue Mountains Hearing Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2001; 30:1371–1378.
19. Op de Beeck K, Schacht J, Van Camp G. Apoptosis in acquired and genetic hearing impairment: the programmed death of the hair cell. Hear Res. 2011; 281:18–27.
20. Cruickshanks KJ, Klein R, Klein BE, Wiley TL, Nondahl DM, Tweed TS. Cigarette smoking and hearing loss: the epidemiology of hearing loss study. JAMA. 1998; 279:1715–1719.
21. Gates GA, Cobb JL, D'Agostino RB, Wolf PA. The relation of hearing in the elderly to the presence of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factors. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1993; 119:156–161.
22. Gussen R. Plugging of vascular canals in the otic capsule. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1969; 78:1305–1315.
23. Verschuur C, Agyemang-Prempeh A, Newman TA. Inflammation is associated with a worsening of presbycusis: evidence from the MRC national study of hearing. Int J Audiol. 2014; 53:469–475.
24. Rosen S, Olin P. Hearing loss and coronary heart disease. Bull N Y Acad Med. 1965; 41:1052–1068.
25. Gazzola JM, Aratani MC, Dona F, Macedo C, Fukujima MM, Gananca MM, et al. Factors relating to depressive symptoms among elderly people with chronic vestibular dysfunction. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2009; 67:416–422.
26. Lin FR, Albert M. Hearing loss and dementia - who is listening? Aging Ment Health. 2014; 18:671–673.
27. Huang Q, Tang J. Age-related hearing loss or presbycusis. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2010; 267:1179–1191.
28. Seidman MD. Effects of dietary restriction and antioxidants on presbyacusis. Laryngoscope. 2000; 110:727–738.
29. Song BB, Anderson DJ, Schacht J. Protection from gentamicin ototoxicity by iron chelators in guinea pig in vivo. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1997; 282:369–377.
30. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Guidelines for audiologic screening [Internet]. Rockville (MD): American Speech-Language-Hearing Association;c1997. cited 2015 Feb 02. Available from: http://www.asha.org/policy/GL1997-00199/.
31. Eekhof JA, de Bock GH, de Laat JA, Dap R, Schaapveld K, Springer MP. The whispered voice: the best test for screening for hearing impairment in general practice? Br J Gen Pract. 1996; 46:473–474.
32. Kim CP, Hong BN, Lee KW, Lee JH. A study on the benefit of hearing aids in geriatrics with presbycusis. Korean J Audiol. 2006; 10:116–121.
33. Hickson L, Scarinci N. Older adults with acquired hearing impairment: applying the ICF in rehabilitation. Semin Speech Lang. 2007; 28:283–290.
34. Acar B, Yurekli MF, Babademez MA, Karabulut H, Karasen RM. Effects of hearing aids on cognitive functions and depressive signs in elderly people. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2011; 52:250–252.
35. Philibert B, Collet L, Vesson JF, Veuillet E. The auditory acclimatization effect in sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners: evidence for functional plasticity. Hear Res. 2005; 205:131–142.
36. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V-2) [Internet]. Cheongwon (KR): Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;c2011. cited 2015 Feb 02. Available from: http://knhanes.cdc.go.kr/.
37. Eshraghi AA, Rodriguez M, Balkany TJ, Telischi FF, Angeli S, Hodges AV, et al. Cochlear implant surgery in patients more than seventy-nine years old. Laryngoscope. 2009; 119:1180–1183.