Prevalence and Severity of Hearing Loss in the Older Old Population

Age-related hearing loss (HL), a common and undertreated condition, has been linked to morbid conditions, including dementia, cognitive impairment, 1 and depression. 2 While studies have measured the prevalence of HL in general, 3 or in the older old (80 years) as a single group, 4,5 an accurate population-level estimate does not exist for those 80 years and older. This is because population-level databases either exclude or mask upper age extremes to protect anonymity. This precludes specifically studying HL epidemiology in older old individuals, the very group most affected by HL.