Age-related cognitive changes occur alongside sensory changes, including presbycusis, which notably affects speech understanding in noisy environments. Although typically diagnosed after the age of 60, hearing difficulties may begin insidiously as early as midlife....
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Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Audiologists and neuropsychologists should routinely account for hearing status when interpreting cognitive assessment results in adults 45+, as uncorrected hearing loss may artificially depress scores and lead to misclassification.
Failing to control for hearing loss in neuropsychological assessments risks misdiagnosing or over-diagnosing cognitive decline in a large and growing segment of the adult population.
- 01Population-based study focused on adults aged 45+ exploring the hearing–cognition relationship.
- 02Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) may confound standard neuropsychological test performance.
- 03Findings support integrating hearing screening into cognitive assessment protocols.
- 04Results have direct implications for reducing misclassification of cognitive impairment.
- 05Study design is population-based, strengthening generalizability of findings.
Age-related hearing loss is associated with poorer performance on neuropsychological assessments in adults aged 45 and older.
studypartially supportedHearing status should be accounted for when conducting or interpreting cognitive assessments in middle-aged and older adults.
studysupported- PMID
- 42842822
- DOI
- 10.1684/pnv.2026.1303.
- Journal
- Psychologie & NeuroPsychiatrie du Vieillissement
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Adults aged 45 years and older from a population-based sample
- Intervention
- Assessment of age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) and its relationship to cognitive performance
Primary outcomes
Relationship between hearing loss severity and neuropsychological test performance; Implications for improving cognitive assessment accuracy in older adults