Hearing loss and risk of depressive symptoms in older adults in the Health ABC study.

Objective: Hearing loss (HL) is highly prevalent among older adults and may lead to increased risk of depressive symptoms. In both cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis, we quantified the association between HL and depressive symptoms, incorporating the variable nature of depressive symptoms and characterizing by race and gender.

Methods: Data were from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study.

Considering hearing loss as a modifiable risk factor for dementia.

Introduction: Accumulating evidence links hearing loss to impaired cognitive performance and increased risk for dementia. Hearing loss can lead to deafferentation-induced atrophy of frontotemporal brain regions and dysregulation of cognitive control networks from increased listening effort. Hearing loss is also associated with reduced social engagement, loneliness, and depression, which are independently associated with poor cognitive function.

A precision medicine tool to understand who responds best to hearing aids in late-life depression.

Objectives: Accumulating evidence suggests that hearing loss (HL) treatment may benefit depressive symptoms among older adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but the specific individual characteristics of those who stand to improve most are unknown.

Methods: N = 37 patients ≥60 years with HL and MDD received either active or sham hearing aids in this 12-week double-blind randomized controlled trial. A combined moderator approach was utilized in the analysis in order to examine multiple different pretreatment individual characteristics to determine the specific qualities that predicted the best depressive symptom response to hearing aids.

Hearing Rehabilitative Treatment for Older Adults With Comorbid Hearing Loss and Depression: Effects on Depressive Symptoms and Executive Function.

Objectives: Recent research has revealed important neural and psychiatric consequences of hearing loss (HL) in older adults. This pilot study examined the neural effects of HL and the impact of hearing aids on neuropsychiatric outcomes in major depressive disorder (MDD).

Design: Twelve-week, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Neural circuits and behavioral pathways linking hearing loss to affective dysregulation in older adults.

Substantial evidence now links age-related hearing loss to incident major depressive disorder in older adults. However, research examining the neural circuits and behavioral mechanisms by which age-related hearing loss leads to depression is at an early phase. It is known that hearing loss has adverse structural and functional brain consequences, is associated with reduced social engagement and loneliness, and often results in tinnitus, which can independently affect cognitive control and emotion processing circuits.

Age-Related Hearing Loss, Neuropsychological Performance, and Incident Dementia in Older Adults.

Background: Age-related hearing loss (HL) has been associated with dementia, though the neurocognitive profile of individuals with HL is poorly understood.

Objective: To characterize the neurocognitive profile of HL.

Methods: N = 8,529 participants from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center ≥60 years and free of cognitive impairment who were characterized as Untreated-, Treated-, or No HL.

Age-Related Hearing Loss, Late-Life Depression, and Risk for Incident Dementia in Older Adults.

Background: Hearing loss (HL), late-life depression, and dementia are 3 prevalent and disabling conditions in older adults, but the interrelationships between these disorders remain poorly understood.

Methods: N = 8529 participants ≥60 years who were free of cognitive impairment at baseline were analyzed from National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set. Participants had either No HL, Untreated HL, or Treated HL.

Association of Hearing Loss With Psychological Distress and Utilization of Mental Health Services Among Adults in the United States.

Importance: Psychological distress affects health and health care utilization. Hearing loss (HL) is highly prevalent and undertreated, and it may be a potentially modifiable risk factor for psychological distress.

Objective: To investigate the association between HL, psychological distress, and mental health care utilization among adults in the United States.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of hearing aids to improve mood and cognition in older adults.

Objectives: Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a prevalent condition associated with increased risk for depression and cognitive decline. This 12-week prospective, double-blind pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of hearing aids (HAs) for depressed older adults with ARHL evaluated the feasibility of a novel research design.

Methods/design: N = 13 individuals aged ≥60 years with Major Depressive Disorder or Persistent Depressive Disorder and at least mild hearing loss (pure tone average ≥ 30 dB) were randomized to receive full- (active) vs low-amplification (sham) HAs added to psychiatric treatment as usual.

Subclinical Hearing Loss is Associated With Depressive Symptoms.

Objective: To assess whether the relationship between hearing and depressive symptoms is present among older adults classified as normal hearing (≤25 dB).

Design: Cross-sectional epidemiologic study (Hispanic Community Health Study).

Setting: US multicentered.

Association of Audiometric Age-Related Hearing Loss With Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic Individuals.

Importance: Age-related hearing loss is highly prevalent and has recently been associated with numerous morbid conditions of aging. Late-life depression is also prevalent and can be resistant to available treatments. Preliminary studies examining the association between hearing loss and late-life depression have been limited by subjective hearing measures, small sample sizes, and primarily white populations.

Age-Related Hearing Loss and Its Association with Depression in Later Life.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and depressive symptoms in older adults over time.

Methods: Data from the Health Aging and Body Composition study (N = 3075, aged 70-79 at baseline) were used previously to conduct a longitudinal latent class analysis to evaluate depression trajectories (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression [CES-D] Scale) over 10 years. Restricting to the subset of subjects who had hearing information available (N = 1204), self-reported hearing categories were evaluated over the same period.

Sensation and Psychiatry: Linking Age-Related Hearing Loss to Late-Life Depression and Cognitive Decline.

Recent research has linked age-related hearing loss to impaired performance across cognitive domains and increased risk for dementia diagnosis. The data linking hearing impairment to incident late-life depression are more mixed but suggest that diminished hearing does increase risk for depression. Behavioral mechanisms may explain these associations, such as the withdrawal of older adults from situations in which they may have difficulty hearing and communicating, which may contribute to the development of social isolation, loneliness, and consequent cognitive decline and depression.

Somatic and neuroendocrine responses to standard and biologically salient acoustic startle stimuli in monkeys.

The startle response, a simple defensive response to a sudden stimulus signaling proximal threat, has been well studied in rodents and humans, but has been rarely examined in monkeys. The first goal of the present studies was to develop a minimally immobilizing startle measurement paradigm and validate its usefulness by testing two core features of the startle response (habituation and graded responsivity) in squirrel monkey subjects. Two different types of startle stimuli were used: standard broad-band noise bursts, and species-specific alarm vocalizations ("yaps") which are elicited in response to threat in both wild and captive animals.