Important Issues of Hearing Loss among the Elderly

All too often, the elderly are stereotyped and stigmatized as being chronically "hard of hearing." This may be the case, but it also very well may not. Elderly hearing loss is most often the result of the body's normal degeneration in our older years; the older we get, the more we start to lose function in parts of our bodies. However, a great many "senior citizens" never experience any type of hearing impairment at all. Hearing loss among the elderly is sometimes a genetic condition. If your Uncle Albert suffered from hearing impairment in his old age, this puts you at a greater risk for genetically based deafness when you reach your senior years. Another primary cause of elderly hearing loss is a condition called presbyacusis, a form of deafness due to the loss of perception of high tones. This is a degenerative process; the older you become the more hearing impairment you are likely to experience.

Childhood Issues Can Help Determine Elderly Hearing Loss

Illnesses suffered at a younger age can take their toll on the elderly, causing partial or total hearing loss. Childhood diseases such as measles and mumps can result in progressive hearing loss that increases with age. Autoimmune disorders like HIV, lupus and fibromyalgia sometimes cause hearing loss among the elderly even though they contracted these illnesses earlier in life. Adenoids that do not disappear by adolescence, and are untreated, may continue to grow and will eventually obstruct the ears, causing severe hearing loss in later years. Sexually transmitted diseases like chylamydia and syphilis that are untreated almost always cause eventual profound hearing loss. For a child who contracted pre-natal Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Effects, elderly hearing loss is only a small part of the dysfunction that accompanies these conditions, which become more severe as the affected person ages.

Help for Elderly Hearing Loss

Hearing aids are the best line of defense in treating elderly hearing loss. Depending upon whether one or both ears are affected, an audiologist can examine tone perception in each ear. Thus, the settings on the hearing aid(s) can be adjusted to fit the patient's needs. Although many elderly people prefer aids that simply amplify sounds, the aids are not always sufficient. Choclear implants artificially stimulate many inner ear nerve endings through tiny electric pulses. However, these implants are very expensive; many of the elderly who have profound hearing loss and need implants have inadequate insurance or Medicare benefits to cover their cost. An additional issue with choclear implants is that for them to be effective with elderly hearing loss patients, they need sophisticated programming in conjunction with extensive patient training to achieve their benefits. Many elderly patients have thought and memory difficulties that make it hard for them to clearly understand how the implants must be technically maintained.

Gene therapy treatment was initiated in 2005 and is still in its trial stages; the results seem promising for young patients, but less effective in elderly hearing loss. This therapy consists of medically induced re-growth of chochlea cells that produce the microscopic hairs that increase hearing ability by sending sounds to the receptor sites in the brain. Obviously, this is much easier in young people since gene therapy can take several years to complete according to early studies. Long-term efficacy of gene therapy in the elderly is still undetermined, but there may be circumstances where it can be used successfully.