Erik Jorgensen, AuD, PhD, CCC-A
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Director, Soundscape & Audiology Research Laboratory
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids, and Psychosocial Health
Hearing loss is robustly associated with increased risks of loneliness and depression. The mechanisms underlying this association are unknown. Whether interventions such as hearing aids reduce risk of negative psychosocial health outcomes is equivocal, but the research is limited. In this talk, we outline a possible hearing-related behavior framework for understanding how hearing loss may lead to negative psychosocial health outcomes. Rooted in auditory ecology, we posit that hearing loss leads to negative psychosocial health outcomes due to mismatches between perceptual abilities and auditory demands of listeners, such that hearing loss differentially effects psychosocial health dependent on soundscapes listeners experience. We then provide empirical evidence testing this theory. Our results provide support for our hypothesized pathway from hearing loss to depression; however, the results also suggest that hearing aid use may change daily life behaviors in fundamental ways that call into question traditional philosophies of hearing aid benefit and outcome.
-Funded by NIH/NIDCD and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (R21DC021512)