This project aims to combine assessment of hearing abilities among subjects of different ages over time, together with information from their communication and health histories. Medical and cognitive data collected from subjects in the longitudinal study will be examined with respect to the audiologic and case history data. The two principle objectives of this project are: A) To study the contribution of medical, genetic, dietary and social factors to age-related auditory dysfunction; and B) To determine to what extent age, independent of other etiologic factors, causes a deterioration in hearing abilities. During the past year, approximately 100 subjects from the BLSA have been tested on three new measures in the hearing protocol. These measures include assessment of pure-tone hearing sensitivity, sentence understanding in noise, and self-perceived hearing handicap. We have also conducted a retrospective analysis of risk factors for apparent age-related hearing loss in men and women participants in the BLSA. Subject included in this analysis exhibited significant deterioration in hearing during the course of data collection, but had no known cause for hearing impairment. Of the three modifiable risk factors examined, only blood pressure had a significant association with hearing loss.
