Page 22 - IJPS-8-1

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Self-reported hearing loss, hearing aid use, and

cognitive function among U.S. older adults

Jessica S. West *, Sherri L. Smith 1,2,3 , and Matthew E. Dupre 1,2,4
1,2
1 Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina,
USA
2 Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
3 Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences, Duke University Durham,
North Carolina, USA
4 Department of Sociology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

Abstract

There has been increasing attention to the role of hearing loss as a potentially
modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. However, more
nationally-representative studies are needed to understand the co-occurring changes
in hearing loss and cognitive function in older adults over time, and how hearing
aid use might influence this association. The purpose of this report is to examine
how age-related changes in hearing loss and hearing aid use are associated with
trajectories of cognitive function in a nationally-representative sample of U.S. older
adults. We used 11 waves of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study
(HRS) from 1998 to 2018 to examine changes in self-reported hearing loss, hearing aid
use, and cognitive function in adults 65 and older by race and ethnicity. Results from
*Corresponding author:
Jessica S. West, mixed models showed that greater levels of hearing loss were associated with lower
(jessie.west@duke.edu) levels of cognitive function at age 65 in non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and
Hispanic older adults. We also found that the associations diminished across age in
Citation: West JS, Smith SL,
Dupre ME. (2022). Self-reported White and Black individuals; but remained persistent in Hispanic individuals. The use
hearing loss, hearing aid use, and of hearing aids was not associated with cognitive function in Black older adults but
cognitive function among U.S. older appeared protective for White and Hispanic older adults. Overall, the findings from
adults. International Journal of
Population Studies, 8(1):16-24. this report suggest that the timely identification of hearing loss and subsequent
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.1308 acquisition of hearing aids may be important considerations for reducing declines in
Received: March 30, 2022 cognitive function that manifests differently in U.S. population subgroups.
Accepted: May 27, 2022
Keywords: Hearing loss; Cognitive decline; Dementia; Racial/ethnic disparities;
Published Online: June 15, 2022
Longitudinal trajectories
Copyright: © 2022 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, 1. Introduction
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRDs) currently affect more than
properly cited. 55 million people worldwide and are projected to impact nearly 80 million people by
Publisher’s Note: AccScience 2030 (Gauthier, Rosa-Neto, Morais, et al., 2021). The prevention of ADRD is a global
Publishing remains neutral with public health priority and identifying modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline will
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional contribute to the development of effective interventions (Gauthier, Rosa-Neto, Morais,
affiliations et al., 2021). Hearing loss has received increasing attention as a potentially modifiable

Volume 8 Issue 1 (2022) 16 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.1308