Hearing and Visual Impairments

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Hearing and visual losses produce disabilities that each affect 1 in 3 persons over age 65. Loss of hearing function may be due not only to sensorineural loss but also to a reduction in speech understanding, tinnitus, and central auditory problems. Loss of visual acuity may be due to age-related changes, but cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy may combine to worsen visual ability. The success of intervention depends on the severity and mix of impairments in any given individual.

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    These physical changes continue into senescence and become more prevalent and functionally significant, with motor slowing being one of the most universal features of advanced age. Sensory decrements, such as hearing loss, also become more pronounced with advanced age, which can have considerable functional impact (Bess et al., 1989; Lichtenstein, 1992; Dargent-Molina et al., 1996; Chew and Yeak, 2010; Wahl et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2016). Cognitive changes associated with aging are discussed later.

  • Enhanced audio-visual interactions in the auditory cortex of elderly cochlear-implant users

    2015, Hearing Research
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    Multisensory interactions can be affected not only by hearing loss but also by aging (Laurienti et al., 2006; Mahoney et al., 2011). In NH elderly individuals, sensory processes are known to decline, and compensatory strategies may be developed by these individuals to overcome the age-related deficits in unisensory processing (e.g. Habak and Faubert, 2000; Lichtenstein, 1992; Nusbaum, 1999). Accordingly, elderly individuals show enhanced facilitation in reaction times (RTs) for cross-modal compared with modality-specific stimulus conditions when compared with younger counterparts (Laurienti et al., 2006; Peiffer et al., 2007).

  • Attentional Control of Multisensory Integration is Preserved in Aging

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    For young human adults, presenting a light in conjunction with a sound enhances the ability to detect low-intensity sounds (Lovelace et al., 2003). Although in elderly adults sensory processes often deteriorate (e.g., Corso, 1971; Lichtenstein, 1992), multisensory presentation of stimuli has been shown to enhance discriminations. For example, in one study response times of 65 to 90-year-old adults to multisensory stimuli in a two-alternative forced-choice discrimination task were as fast as reaction times of 18 to 38-year-old adults to unisensory stimuli (Laurienti, Burdette, Maldjian, & Wallace, 2006).

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    2007, Rosenbloom & Morgan's Vision and Aging
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