Often the elderly complain that they can’t hear others clearly and want the other party to repeat it, but they are afraid of bothering them, so they can only reduce communication with others. These elderly people may suffer from age-related deafness and need to go to the hospital for examination to confirm the diagnosis.
What is age-related deafness?
Age-related deafness, also known as presbycusis, is a progressive, bilaterally symmetrical, and age-related sensory neural hearing loss. As the patient ages, their hearing gradually declines.
The characteristics of age-related deafness are decreased hearing sensitivity and impaired speech perception.
The elderly with hearing loss are reluctant to communicate with others and refuse to integrate into society, which can lead to a decline in their cognitive ability and risk avoidance.
It should be noted that if the elderly allow the disease to progress, it may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Age-related deafness not only affects the quality of life of the elderly but also brings economic burdens to families and society. Therefore, how to prevent and treat age-related deafness has become a focus of attention in all walks of life.
How to prevent age-related hearing loss
Avoid noise: Long-term exposure to noise can cause irreversible damage to the hair cells in the inner ear. Therefore, when the elderly are in a noisy environment, they should wear noise-reducing earplugs.
Avoid the abuse of drugs: Many elderly people suffer from various chronic diseases and need to take medicine for a long time. However, some drugs may damage the hair cells in the cochlea, vestibular system, or auditory nerve, leading to hearing loss. Therefore, the elderly should seek medical treatment in regular medical institutions, not take medicine on their own, and not listen to folk remedies.
Avoid frequent ear picking: If the elderly fail to use the ear picking tools correctly or do not disinfect the tools regularly, it may lead to ear infections, and then damage the hearing.
Avoid wearing headphones for a long time: Some elderly people are used to wearing headphones for a long time, even wearing headphones to sleep. Over time, this behavior will cause chronic damage to hearing.
Maintain emotional stability: Sudden emotional fluctuations may cause microcirculatory disorders in the inner ear, leading to hearing loss.

Older adults with age-related hearing loss should do this
Drug therapy: If older adults experience mild hearing loss, drug therapy can be considered to prevent the condition from worsening.
Wearing a hearing aid: Currently, wearing a hearing aid is a common means of treating age-related hearing loss. Some older adults believe that wearing a hearing aid not only affects appearance but also damages hearing. This misconception leads many older adults to refuse to wear hearing aids. Traditional hearing aids mainly rely on amplifying sound to help those with hearing loss, while modern hearing aids, through digital signal processing technology, can be intelligently adjusted according to individual hearing conditions, providing a clearer and more natural listening experience. Patients with age-related hearing loss should go to a regular hospital for diagnosis and treatment, and have their hearing aids fitted.
Cochlear implant surgery: Artificial auditory implant devices have brought hope for restoring hearing to patients with severe hearing loss and deafness. The implanted signal receiver can convert sound into an electrical signal and transmit that electrical signal into the patient’s cochlea, stimulating the auditory nerve or directly stimulating the auditory area of the brainstem, thereby helping patients to produce hearing.


