Cognitive Impairments in Patients with Hearing Loss: A Cross-Sectional Study from an Audiological Clinic

Previous studies have provided evidence for an association between hearing loss and cognitive decline. Patients with hearing loss may vary from the general population on several parameters that could influence their cognitive functions, including severity of hearing loss, age, and educational level. But to what extent cognitive impairments, as measured by clinical cognitive tests, are present in patients with hearing loss as compared with community samples have rarely been examined. Such studies would help determine whether specific attention to cognitive dysfunction should be provided as part of comprehensive hearing healthcare. This study sought to examine cognitive impairments in patients with hearing loss as compared with community-dwelling older adults across a range of cognitive domains.

Participants included a sample of patients from an audiological clinic (N = 83) and a community sample of older adults (N = 39). Performance on clinical cognitive tests were compared between groups using standard t tests or Mann-Whitney's U test. On each cognitive test, the proportion of individuals with impaired performance was classified. Impaired performance corresponded to a score at or below the 5th and 10th percentile cut-offs of Danish normative data. Among individuals in the clinical sample who showed cognitive impairment on at least one cognitive test, the proportion of individuals without subjective memory complaints was identified.

Patients in the clinical sample performed significantly worse than the community sample on cognitive tests measuring processing speed, working memory, executive functions, verbal memory, and visuo-constructive abilities. In the clinical sample, 10%-15% of the patients were classified with impaired performance when applying the 5th percentile cut-off, and more than 15% were classified as impaired when applying the 10th percentile cut-off. Among patients in the clinical sample with impaired cognitive performance, 43.5% reported no memory problems.

Patients from an audiological clinic had significantly worse performance across a range of cognitive tests when compared to a community sample, and 10%-15% had performance in the impaired range. These results emphasize that cognitive deficits are common in patients from an audiological clinic and that self-reports might not be reliable for identifying memory problems.