After adjustment for age, sex, lifestyle, comorbidities, impaired cognition and social isolation, the study finds that hearing loss is associated with impaired lower extremity function, frailty syndrome and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).

The prevalence of moderate hearing loss among the participants in the study was 13.6% at speech frequency.

Facts about the study

The study was conducted from December 2015 to June 2017 and included 1,644 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years or older. The participants were residents of Madrid, Spain and 4 large surrounding cities.

The participants had hearing threshold measurements and data on impaired lower extremity function, frailty syndrome and disability.

In the study, hearing loss was defined as pure-tone average greater than 40 dB HL in the better ear for standard frequency (0.5, 1, and 2 kHz), speech frequency (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz), and high frequency (3, 4, and 8 kHz).

The study, “Association Between Hearing Loss and Impaired Physical Function, Frailty, and Disability in Older Adults – A Cross-sectional Study”, was published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.

Sources: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov and the journal JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery