Audiology and Otology in Geriatric Patients

When people get sensorineural hearing loss as they age, it is called presbycusis [1]. Presbycusis is a multifactorial disorder that causes gradual and symmetrical hearing loss over an extended period. Bilateral high-frequency hearing loss, problems with central auditory processing, and difficulty discriminating speech are hallmarks of presbycusis. The primary diagnostic tool for presbycusis is an audiometric evaluation that includes speech discrimination and pure-tone average. One possible component of presbycusis therapy is well-fitting hearing aids. Aging causes histologic alterations throughout the auditory system, from the cochlear hair cells to the temporal lobe auditory cortex. As the alterations progress and manifest at what anatomical level, various clinical signs and audiological test results may be associated with them. Although there have been some outstanding studies on presbycusis during the last half-century, our understanding of the disease’s pathophysiology still needs to be improved.