Background and Aims: Cognitive decline in the elderly has been linked to age-related hearing loss. This case study investigated whether auditory rehabilitation might improve auditory performance as well as cognitive functioning in the elderly with age-related hearing loss who did not wear hearing aids. Methods: The participant, LHL, was an 89-year-old female with mild bilateral hearing loss between 1000Hz – 4000Hz at 46.7 dB HL. She did not wear hearing aids and had no diagnosis of cognitive impairment. LHL took part in a four-week auditory rehabilitation program, which consisted of a one-hour training session per week. LHL received training for auditory discrimination and auditory memory. Prior to and by the end of the program, pure-tone audiometry, auditory discrimination and memory, and cognitive functioning were evaluated. For the assessment of cognition, the Mandarin Chinese version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used. Results: LHL’s hearing thresholds remained the same, and the auditory memory did not benefit from the program. However, auditory discrimination performance improved significantly, from 10% to 60% of accuracy. In terms of cognition, the MOCA score improved from 6 to 11. Conclusions and Recommendations: This study demonstrates the potential benefit of auditory rehabilitation for the elderly with mild age-related hearing loss who have not worn hearing aids. Moreover, cognitive performance is likely to be compromised by hearing loss. Based on this case, we encourage audiologists to provide aural rehabilitation for cases with mild age-related hearing loss soon after identifying hearing loss to postpone the decline of cognition.

Authors:
Chun-yi Lin, Asia University, Taiwan
Natalie Yu-Hsien Wang, Asia University, Taiwan
Pei-Chen (Peggy) Liu, Asia University, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Professor CHUN-YI LIN is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Asia university in Taiwan

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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