[Correlation between visual improvement following cataract surgery and speech recognition in elderly individuals with...

Objective: To explore the correlation between post-cataract surgery visual improvement and speech recognition in elderly individuals with hearing loss. Methods: It was a prospective cohort study. Patients with cataracts scheduled for bilateral phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation at the Department of Ophthalmology, Chinese PLA General Hospital between January and September 2024, who also had hearing loss, were enrolled as the observation group. The control group comprised older adults with hearing loss but without cataracts. Data including age, gender distribution, 5-meter best-corrected visual acuity (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution, logMAR), mean hearing threshold, and speech recognition rate (SRR) were recorded and compared between the two groups. Statistical analyses were performed using the paired t-test, chi-square test, and multivariate linear regression analysis. Results: The observation group included 22 patients, and the control group comprised 10 patients. A statistically significant difference in age was observed between the observation group [(75.18±6.62) years] and the control group [(60.90±4.65) years] (P<0.05). No statistically significant differences were found in gender distribution (observation group: 14 males, 6 females; control group: 4 males, 6 females) or mean hearing thresholds [observation group: (38.14±9.82) dB; control group: (35.70±4.00) dB] between the two groups (both P>0.05). The differences in best-corrected visual acuity and SRR between the two groups were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Postoperatively, bilateral best-corrected visual acuity in the observation group improved significantly compared to preoperative values (right eye: 0.06±0.11 vs. 0.74±0.55; left eye: 0.05±0.09 vs. 0.59±0.35; both P<0.05). No significant changes in mean binaural hearing thresholds were detected (both P>0.05). However, the postoperative SRR increased significantly to 0.82±0.09 compared to the preoperative value of 0.69±0.13 (P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the postoperative best-corrected visual acuity and SRR between the two groups (both P>0.05). Regression analysis using baseline data, adjusted for gender and mean hearing threshold, revealed a significant inverse association between visual acuity and SRR (β=-0.13, 95%CI:-0.22 to -0.04, P<0.05). Conclusions: Visual acuity is correlated with the speech recognition ability in older adults. Post-cataract surgery visual improvement leads to enhanced speech discrimination performance in elderly individuals with concurrent hearing loss, thereby expanding the therapeutic implications of cataract surgery.