2025/03/24 by Rong Tian, Osvaldo P. Almeida, Andrew H. Ford +10 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Medicine · Neuroscience · #Frailty in Older Adults #Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes #Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation
paper · pdf · doi:10.3389/fragi.2025.1524186
openalex publication_date 2025/03/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Objectives: To investigate the association between hearing loss and frailty among a group of older community volunteers with mild cognitive impairment. Design: This study recruited 162 older community volunteers who have mild cognitive impairment and symmetric age-related hearing loss. Participants' hearing ability (including peripheral hearing, hearing handicap and central auditory processing) and frailty status were assessed and analysed. An independent t-test was conducted to compare hearing performance between frail and non-frail groups. Results: There were statistically significant differences between frail and non-frail groups for speech frequency hearing threshold, overall central auditory processing score and hearing handicap score, but not for high frequency hearing threshold. Conclusion: Frail individuals exhibit poorer performance in peripheral and central hearing assessments, as well as in self-reported hearing handicap. Future randomised controlled trials are necessary to find out if the correction of hearing loss decreases the proportion of people affected by frailty in later life.