Now and then I hear someone (myself included) proclaim “my brain is on overload.” This is not surprising given the myriad complex tasks the brain performs, among them enabling you to learn, plan, remember, communicate, see, hear and smell. Perhaps also not surprising, a growing number of studies have linked compromised sensory functions like poor vision and hearing to a decline in cognitive abilities. The brain, it seems, can do only so much, and when it must struggle to make sense of the world – from reading the words on a page to understanding the spoken word – it may be less able to perform other important tasks. While a cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be established, evidence is gradually increasing to suggest that uncorrected deficits in vision and hearing can accelerate cognitive decline. National statistics demonstrate the importance of this relationship. The number of Americans with poor vision, often undetected among older adults, is expected to double by 2050;…

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An estimated one zillion older people have a problem like mine. First: We notice age-related hearing loss. A much-anticipated report on hearing health from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine last month put the prevalence at more than 45 percent of those aged 70 to 74, and more than 80 percent among those over 85. Then: We do little or nothing about it. Fewer than 20 percent of those with hearing loss use hearing aids. I’ve written before about the reasons. High prices ($2,500 and up for a decent hearing aid, and most people need two). Lack of Medicare reimbursement, because the original 1965 law creating Medicare prohibits coverage. Time and hassle. Stigma. Both the National Academies and the influential President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology have proposed pragmatic steps to make hearing technology more accessible and affordable. But until there’s progress on those, many of us with mild to moderate hearing loss may consider a…

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A few years hence, when you’ve finally tired of turning up the TV volume and making dinner reservations at 5:30 p.m. because any later and the place gets too loud, you may go shopping. Perhaps you’ll head to a local boutique called The Hear Better Store, or maybe Didja Ear That? (Reader nominees for kitschy names invited.) Maybe you’ll opt for a big-box retailer or a kiosk at your local pharmacy. If legislation now making its way through Congress succeeds, these places will all offer hearing aids. You’ll try out various models — they’ll all meet newly established federal requirements — to see what seems to work and feel best. Your choices might include products from big consumer electronics specialists like Apple, Samsung and Bose. If you want assistance, you might pay an audiologist to provide customized services, like adjusting frequencies or amplification levels. But you won’t need to go through an audiologist-gatekeeper, as you do now, to buy hearing aids. The best part of…

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Hearing aids are expensive, but there could be cheaper options. That’s according to findings from a new study by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Researchers there found that personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) sold at retail pharmacies and that cost about $350, work just as well as some of the $2,000 hearing aids prescribed by a doctor. In the U.S., hearing aids are only available by prescription from a doctor. PSAPs, however, can be purchased at stores like CVS but they don’t go through the same clinical trials that prescription hearing aids do. Some hearing aids can cost up to $4,000. And while they are a medical necessity, Medicare — the insurance program for people over age 65 — does not pay for them. That’s important because while two-thirds of people over the age of 70 have hearing loss, less than 20 percent of those people have a hearing aid, the study shows. And the cost could be a big factor. Nicholas Reed was lead researcher on the Johns Hopkins study. He’s…

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A  handful of over-the-counter "personal sound amplification products" fared as well as an expensive hearing aid in helping people pick up more words in conversation, researchers report.  While the study took place in a sound booth, "in this controlled environment, some of these devices helped people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss as well as a hearing aid," study author Nicholas Reed says. He is an audiologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. An estimated 16 percent of Americans have trouble hearing, and the U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimates that almost 30 million people could benefit from hearing aids. But hearing aids can cost thousands of dollars, and Medicare doesn't cover them, the researchers noted. "Hearing aids are regulated medical devices and should all be able to aid someone with hearing loss," Reed said. "While not all hearing aids are the same, they should all be able to meet this minimum requirement…

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In a highly controlled comparison study, several over-the-counter hearing assistance devices performed almost as well as a conventional hearing aid that cost thousands of dollars more. Three of five selected personal sound amplification products (PSAP) were found to improve speech understanding among participants with mild-to-moderate hearing loss to a degree that was comparable to results obtained with a hearing aid, Nicholas Reed, AuD, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote in the July 4 issue of JAMA. Congress is currently considering rare, bipartisan legislation that would allow these devices to be marketed as direct-to-consumer products subject to FDA regulation. At present, hearing aids can only be purchased through a licensed hearing specialist. Hearing aids for both ears typically cost around $4,500, while PSAPs cost several hundred dollars or less. The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017 is being sponsored in the Senate by Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass…

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If you fear you’re going to spend your “golden years” with a hand cupped behind your ear, saying “Eh, what?” you may not be all that wrong. And some younger people may be joining you. According to a new study, the number of adults in the United States 20 years of age or older with hearing loss is expected to nearly double in coming decades. Put another way, that means the percentage of adults who have hearing loss will rise from 15 percent to 22 percent. That’s a jump from 44 million in 2020 to 73 million in 2060.

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As the U.S. population ages, millions more will face the prospect of losing their hearing, researchers report. Among American adults 20 and older, hearing loss is expected to increase from 44 million in 2020 (15 percent of adults) to 73.5 million by 2060 (23 percent of adults). The increase will be greatest among older adults, according to the researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. In 2020, 55 percent of all adults with hearing loss will be 70 or older. In 2060, that rate will jump to 67 percent. “In the coming decades, there will be an increased need for affordable interventions and access to hearing health care services,” said lead study author Adele Goman. She’s a research fellow at Hopkins’ Center on Aging and Health. Goman and her colleagues projected future hearing loss using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. “Hearing loss is a major public health issue that will affect many more adults,” she said. “In order to address this…

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Can you hear me now? If you're an adult living in the year 2060, there's an increasing chance you won't. The number of Americans aged 20 and older who suffer from hearing loss is expected to nearly double over the next 43 years, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University. Researchers project a gradual rise — largely driven by older folks — from 44.1 million people in 2020 dealing with "moderate or greater" hearing loss (15% of people 20 and up) to 73.5 million in 2060 (22.6%), per the report published Thursday in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery. "We already know that hearing loss affects a lot of people," study co-author Adele Goman, a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins, told the Daily News. "What we didn't know is how that was going to pan out in the coming years." The predominant source of this steady increase, per Goman: the aging American population. The number of Americans 65 and up was 46.2 million in 2014, according to the Census Bureau,…

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