From Healthy Hearing to Healthy Living: A Holistic Approach

The negative consequences of hearing loss go beyond difficulties with communication, having been identified as a major risk factor for injury and illness, social isolation, depression, overall quality of life, and mortality. Hearing loss affects the individual, their families and social network, the broader healthcare system, and the economy. Recognizing that there are multifactorial considerations associated with understanding and mitigating the consequences of hearing loss, great benefit is gained by taking an interdisciplinary, interprofessional, holistic approach to studying hearing loss in research and in developing holistic clinical strategies targeted at prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and social policy. Within the framework of this supplement focused on the role of ecological validity in hearing-related research and application, this article provides a general commentary on how ecological validity can be considered with a holistic perspective in mind. First, we consider how a holistic approach can be applied within clinical practice, how it can be applied to laboratory-based research to increase ecological validity, and how it can be applied to professional training and education within both research and clinical domains. Second, we discuss the associations between hearing loss and dementia as an example of how these holistic principles can be applied. The main goal of highlighting these approaches and principles is to motivate a change in the narrative about hearing loss from a focus in research and application on promoting healthy hearing, to a focus on living well.