Hearing loss (HL) may be a risk factor for poor psychosocial outcomes among older adults, but evidence remains mixed. We assessed associations of self-reported and objective HL with and without hearing aid use with social contact, loneliness, and depression pooled across 6 years of follow-up.
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
This is a preliminary preprint; findings may support screening for loneliness and depression in patients with hearing loss, but results should not change practice until peer-reviewed and replicated.
Quantifying the psychosocial burden of hearing loss in older adults strengthens the case for integrating mental health screening into audiology practice.
- 01Uses both self-reported and audiometrically-measured hearing loss, strengthening measurement validity.
- 02Psychosocial outcomes examined: social isolation, loneliness, and depressive symptoms.
- 03Study population drawn from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) cohort of older adults.
- 04Preprint status means findings have not yet passed peer review.
- 05Highlights potential link between untreated hearing loss and broader mental health consequences in aging populations.
Hearing loss (self-reported and objective) is associated with social isolation, loneliness, and depressive symptoms in older adults.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42845609
- DOI
- 10.64898/2026.08.06.26359904.
- Publication type
- preprint
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Older adults enrolled in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study
- Intervention
- Self-reported and objective (audiometric) hearing loss
- Comparator
- Older adults without hearing loss
Primary outcomes
Social isolation; Loneliness; Depressive symptoms