Discuss the changes in hearing that individuals experience during the aging process

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

An estimated 14 percent of Americans between ages 45 and 64 suffer from hearing loss, often resulting from adult-onset hearing impairments. Although some conditions run in families and may be hereditary, most are age-related, a condition called presbycusis ("old hearing"). As we age, inner-ear structures that transform mechanical sound waves into neural impulses deteriorate through natural cell death or reduced blood supply caused by atherosclerosis. Processing of neural messages in the auditory cortex also declines. Age-related cognitive changes—in processing speed, attention, and memory—are also associated with hearing loss. The first sign, around age 50, is a noticeable decline in sensitivity to high-frequency sounds, which gradually extends to all frequencies. Late in life, human speech becomes more difficult to make out, especially rapid speech and speech against a background of voices. Still, throughout middle adulthood, most people hear reasonably well across a wide frequency range. And African tribal peoples display little age-related hearing loss. These findings suggest factors other than biological aging are involved. Men's hearing tends to decline earlier and more rapidly than women's, a difference associated with cigarette smoking, intense noise and chemical pollutants in some male-dominated occupations, and (at older ages) high blood pressure and cerebrovascular disease, or strokes that damage brain tissue. Most middle-aged and elderly people with hearing difficulties benefit from sound amplification with hearing aids.