A Preliminary Study Investigating the Association Between Hearing Acuity and a Screening Cognitive Tool

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Audiology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Inconsistent associations between hearing and cognition in older adults.
• Unclear if early high-frequency hearing loss impacts cognitive function.
• Need to differentiate hearing loss by frequency for cognitive associations.

Purpose of the Study:

• Determine the association between global cognitive status and low-frequency (0.5, 1, 2 kHz) versus high-frequency (4, 8 kHz) pure tone average (PTA).
• Investigate cognitive associations in different age and hearing status cohorts.

Main Methods:

• 307 adults aged 60+ years participated.
• Hearing assessed via pure tone audiometry.
• Cognition measured using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE).

Main Results:

• Low-frequency PTA significantly but minimally predicted MMSE scores.
• This association was significant only in the younger age group (60-69 years).
• No significant relationship found between high-frequency PTA and cognition across any cohort.

Conclusions:

• Low-frequency hearing is minimally related to general cognitive status, particularly in younger older adults.
• High-frequency hearing loss shows no significant association with cognition in this study.
• Further research with comprehensive cognitive tests is recommended to confirm findings on high-frequency hearing.