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In seeking to determine which, if any, vision variables are associated with moderate bilateral hearing loss in an elderly population, a team of scientists at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, California recently took a look at a cohort of older adults enrolled in a longitudinal study of vision and function in Marin County, California. Schneck and colleagues found that among 446 older adults (mean age, 79.9 years) screened, three measures of low-contrast visual acuity were significantly associated with moderate bilateral hearing loss in analyses controlling for age and comorbid conditions. The vision measures that were significantly associated with hearing loss were overall low contrast (10%) acuity (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.02 – 2.22; p<.05), low contrast acuity at low luminance (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.07 – 1.98; p<.05) and low contrast and acuity in glare (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.02 – 1.91; p<.05).

While poorer vision for low contrast targets was associated with an increased risk of hearing impairment in older adults, normal or high-contrast acuity measures were not significantly associated with hearing loss. The investigators' findings led them to recommend that audiologists and optometrists alike should enquire about the other senses in cases in which they measure a deficit, as individuals with dual sensory loss are at a marked disadvantage in daily life. They also cite evidence that dual sensory loss can have greater effects on depression, cognitive function and quality of life compared with sensory hearing or vision loss alone. This study was published in the January 2012 issue of Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics.