Don't Believe Everything You Read About Hearing Loss

I realized that the title I originally gave this post, "More Bad News On Hearing Loss," says exactly the opposite of what I meant it to say. I didn't agree with the results of this study. I thought the story reporting on the study was incomplete. So I've changed the title.

Here's the original post:

Another bad news story for those with hearing loss. But the crucial information is not only not included but isn't even mentioned as an omission in the original study. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/hearing-loss-takes-a-health-toll/?comments#permid=14

The takeaway of the article: People with hearing loss are hospitalized at a greater rate than people without. The article was published in JAMA, a respected medical journal. The authors are esteemed epidemiologists. Nevertheless, the study sample was small. It compared 529 men and women with hearing loss (over the age of 70) with 1140 with normal hearing. (Actually, "normal" hearing for those at the age of 70 is hearing loss. Two-thirds of those 70 and over have hearing loss, according the Better Hearing Institute.)

The study "found that people with poor hearing were 32 percent more likely to be hospitalized, 36 percent more likely to report poor physical health and 57 percent more likely to report poor emotional or mental health." Whoa.

First, the number of people studied is minuscule. In my opinion, not statistically significant. The study looked at 1669 people. With that small a sample how can "32 percent more likely to be hospitalized" really tell us anything? And that 57 percent who "reported" poor emotional or mental health. What? Were they being treated? Had a diagnosis of depression or anxiety been made? Were they under the care of a clinician?

Second, as I commented on the Times web site, and far more important:

What was the role of hearing aids in this study? If older people with mild to moderate hearing loss corrected by hearing aids are still experiencing this higher rate of hospitalization, that's something to worry about.
If they have hearing aids and are wearing them only to watch TV, or if they don't have them at all, the situation is far different. They're at risk for all sorts of physical and psychological conditions, including, as Frank Lin (quoted in the article) has found, a statistical correlation with early onset and more severe dementia. The role of hearing aids in these studies is essential.
As someone with severe hearing loss, which I have written about in my book "Shouting Won't Help," the idea that just because I have hearing loss I'm more prone to hospitalization or early onset dementia is terrifying. Hearing aid use -- how often they're used, how well they're fitted -- should always be a factor in this kind of study.

It's bad enough to have hearing loss. It's totally depressing to be told that because you have hearing loss -- ignoring the fact that your hearing loss may be being treated, and that you may lead an active intellectual life -- you're doomed.

Treat your hearing loss, stay involved, exercise your synapses!