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CHAPTER TEN Aging and Hearing Loss James F. Maurer, Ph.D.
. . .Psychologists have known for years that aging affects our ability to recall things in the immediate past more than our ability to remember the distant past with our “crystallized” intelligence. Does this mean we get dumber as we age? No. Does it mean we aging persons have trouble with a task that requires new learning? No, but our minds may not be as nimble as they used to be. Does it mean we’re more likely to forget someone’s name after just being introduced than a playmate’s name recalled from childhood? Yes! Is this a new problem for us? No. We’ve forgotten things stored in short-term memory all our lives because we were distracted or focused on something close, or simply forgot. This is not “new” behavior. It’s just that as we grow older, it increases in frequency, often because of neural noise interference. Living with a Hearing Loss Even a slight hearing impairment during this time of life may occasionally affect our ability to understand others. Since the voices of people with whom we talk vary in those characteristics that contribute to understanding, we misinterpret some individuals more than others. Voices differ in pitch, loudness, quality and output (words per minute), each of which can influence the clarity and intelligibility of the speaker’s voice. Words spoken are more understandable for some voices than others. The clearer speaking person utters words that are more precisely formed, or articulated. Obviously, teenagers can keep up with the accelerated speech of their age group. But many of us cannot. We simply have to ask them to speak more slowly. Broadcaster “hype” has turned “hyper” for many of us who remember all too well the comfortably paced, resonant and clear voices of the golden age of radio. Today, radio and television stations that still endorse clear and reasonably paced communication are not as easy to find. Since some voices are clearer than others, it pays to shop around the networks and public broadcasting for better listening experiences. Visual cues, seeing the speaker as she or he is communicating, contribute to our getting the message. But constraints in our communication environments differ considerably. Some places are worse than others, where messages spoken reverberate from bare walls and floors and are lost in the wake of their own noise. In rooms containing carpets and drapes that are farther away from outside traffic noise, interference is minimized. Something to think about if you’re apartment shopping. Places where older people congregate should be stellar listening environments. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. I recall visiting a dozen or more senior adult centers, noting the fact that while most were clean and pleasant, many were located in high noise areas and few attempts had been made to reduce interior noise. One center was actually located under a roller skating rink! If you’re reading this because you have an older parent or grandparent with hearing problems, keep in mind that it’s much easier to converse with them in a quiet room. Make sure there’s good lighting and try to maintain a speaking distance of less than nine feet. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much easier conversation becomes and how much stress is reduced. Background sounds around us can also be a positive experience. We constantly monitor the world we live in, often unconsciously. Our hearing sense, as well as our vision, keeps tabs on what is happening in our space. There’s often comfort in the constant background of sounds and sights in our environment. There’s a sense of belonging. Even a very mild hearing loss can change this monitoring behavior and affect how we feel. As one 56-year-old woman described to me before she began wearing hearing instruments, “Not being able to hear little background sounds was an experience I wouldn’t like to repeat. I had entered an upstairs art gallery in an old community college building. Normally I would expect to hear hushed conversations, feet shuffling or other sounds. Except for the clack of my shoes on the old wooden floor, there was complete silence! I must have been the only one in the gallery, and I began to feel anxious. It was as if I was the last person alive on this planet. I hurriedly left the place…and I didn’t even know why.” Like brush strokes on a canvas, the myriad of small sounds that we’re so accustomed to hearing tell us we are a part of reality. They also contribute to our sense of security. Detection of some warning signals may be challenged by our hearing loss, sounds such as footsteps on carpet, tires on soft snow, or even fire burning in the next room, as one hapless 77-year-old apartment dweller recounted to me. He had barely escaped from the burning building. Hearing loss dampens the enjoyment of some activities that gave us pleasure in the past: theater-going, music appreciation, church services, watching television, dining out, having a drink in places with background noise, talking to others on the telephone. Even a mild hearing loss can reduce life satisfaction for some things we once took for granted. . . |
