Hearing Loss among Individuals with Dementia: Barriers and Facilitators to Care

Hearing loss is highly prevalent among older adults with dementia, particularly those in long-term care settings. Unfortunately, barriers exist that may prevent many individuals with dementia from participating in necessary hearing health care. Barriers include the fact that older adults do not always seek help for their hearing loss and care partners may not recognize hearing loss because communication problems associated with hearing loss and dementia often overlap. Even when hearing loss is identified, individuals with dementia may not be referred for further evaluation of hearing because of a lack of awareness of available intervention strategies beyond hearing aids, and a tendency for care partners to minimize the negative effects of hearing loss. To facilitate hearing health, audiologists and speech-language pathologists need to assist care partners of individuals with dementia in understanding the signs, symptoms and impact of hearing loss on daily life. Further, clinicians need to adapt hearing assessments and design holistic interventions to meet the specific needs of people with dementia. The purpose of this paper is to review the recent literature on this topic, with a focus on key issues in hearing health care for individuals with dementia and hearing loss, as well as assessment and intervention strategies to promote hearing and communication.