When the Brain, Not the Ears, Goes Hard of Hearing

The number one complaint among the elderly is that they have trouble hearing speech because of background noise. Someone might hear fine in a quiet environment like their home, but when they go to a restaurant or a meeting or a party, it sounds like chaos to them. That's partly because the feedback system is failing.

To get to the root of the feedback problem, the neuroscience team is investigating the possible role of a breakdown in calcium regulation in the brain stem, throwing askew the way nerve cells talk to each other and possibly resulting in a toxic buildup of calcium in some brain cells.

Difficulties in hearing can isolate people from friends and family, beginning when people first have difficulty with age-related hearing loss in their 50's and 60's. This problem is especially tragic because just when people have time to spend with their children and grandchildren, they can't understand what is going on. They're losing what they had. People respond to this isolation by either clamming up or aggressively dominating conversation. The estrangement can be severe and can even result in depression.

While there is no cure of age-related hearing loss, some simple steps can lessen its effects. Speaking loudly is an instinctual reaction when talking to a hearing impaired person, but that won't help when talking to someone with age-related hearing loss. Speaking slightly slower than usual will help - as if you were talking to someone who speaks a foreign language.

Many older people are actually especially sensitive to loud sounds, so the worst thing you can do is raise your voice. What you need to do is look at the person and speak slowly and clearly. Speaking loudly is like turning up the volume on a cheap stereo - it's only going to distort your speech and add to the confusion.

While most people gradually lose the ability to hear high frequencies as they age, the feedback and timing problems account for many of their complaints about hearing.

Feedback and timing problems make conversation sound like everything is spoken through a drainpipe. One sound leads into the next, smearing words together.

Be sure to speak clearly and keep the environment as quiet as possible when communicating.

For more information and tips on proper communication techniques, please contact the Alzheiemr's Association of WNY (716)626-0600.

For information on Elderwood Senior Care, please contact us at (716)633-3900.