Treating hearing loss can help elderly with loneliness too

By Stephen Beech

Tackling hearing loss can help ease the loneliness epidemic among the elderly, suggests new research.

Providing hearing aids and advice on their use may preserve social connections that often wane as people grow older, according to the findings.

It would reduce increasing feelings of isolation endured by many senior citizens, say scientists.

More than two million people in England over the age of 75 live alone, and more than a million older people say they go over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member, according to Age UK.

Experts have linked such isolation in part to hearing loss, which can interfere with communication and relationship building.

The new American study, led by researchers at NYU Langone Health in New York City, revealed that those treated for hearing loss retained one additional social connection on average over a three-year period when compared with those who received no hearing therapies and were instead educated about healthy aging.

The findings also showed that those given hearing aids had more diverse relationships, with networks that had many different types of connections, such as family members, friends, and acquaintances.

They also maintained deeper, higher-quality bonds than those who were not treated for hearing loss, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Study lead author Professor Nicholas Reed, a member of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Optimal Aging Institute, said: “Our findings add to evidence that helping aging patients hear better can also enrich their social lives and boost their mental and physical well-being.”

He pointed out that experts have linked both loneliness and hearing loss to depression, heart disease, and early death, among other concerns.

A 2023 report showed that hearing interventions may slow cognitive decline among those at highest risk for dementia.

Co-principal investigator Professor Josef Coresh said: “Making sure people can continue engaging with their family and friends as they age is a critical part of maintaining their quality of life."

The research team collected data about older adults with untreated hearing loss across four sites in Maryland, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

The study is among the largest to date to explore if hearing care can help prevent weakening of social networks, including nearly 1,000 men and women aged 70 through 84.

Half of the participants received hearing aids, counselling sessions and personalised instruction with an audiologist, and when needed, tools such as adaptors that connect hearing aids to televisions.

The other half of the participants were given instructions about exercise, strategies for communicating with healthcare providers, and further resources for healthy aging.

To measure social isolation, the researchers assessed how regularly participants spent time with others, the size and variety of their social networks and the roles they played in them, and the depth of their connections.

Loneliness was calculated using a 20-question scoring system that evaluated how often a person feels disconnected from others.

After the initial data was collected, the team followed up at six months and then every year for three years.

The study revealed that before treatment, participants in both groups reported feeling equally lonely.

But three years after the intervention took place, loneliness scores slightly improved among those who had received hearing care, while scores slightly worsened among those who didn't.

Coresh says the research team plan to continue following the participants for another three years and to repeat the study with a more diverse group of people as most of he patients were white.

He added: “These results support efforts to incorporate hearing aid coverage into Medicare as a means of addressing the nation’s social isolation epidemic, which is especially risky for the elderly."