Relationship between Hearing Loss and Mental Health in Older Adults

Abstract

We studied the relationship of stressful life events occurring due to hearing loss, perceived stress, and mental health in older adults with hearing loss. Subjects were 235 people with clinically diagnosed presbycusis who had consulted hospital or hearing-aid center audiologists in Wakayama Prefecture. An interview was conducted by audiologists with a questionnaire including subjects' demographics, degree of hearing loss, hearing aid use, frequency of stressful life events, perceived stress, and mental health. The structural equation modeling results demonstrated that subjects' gender, age, and degree of hearing loss were significantly related to stressful life events. Stressful life events were further related indirectly to mental health via perceived stress. Direct effect of stressful life events on mental health was not significant. These results suggest that it is possible to avoid mental health disturbances due to hearing loss by early preventive intervention to alleviate the effects of stressful events and moderate the effects of stress appraisal on mental health.