VITAL SIGNS

Aging: Blame the Brain for Hearing Loss

By ERIC NAGOURNEY



Published: March 1, 2005





People who lose their hearing as they grow older should not be so quick
to blame their ears. The problem may be with their brains.



Researchers say that in many cases, the ears of hearing-impaired people
are just fine. But when the signals reach their aging brains, things
begin to go wrong. The findings were presented at a recent conference of
the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, where researchers were
trying to home in on exactly what is happening in the brain in these
cases.



The findings undercut the traditional assumption that if a patient
reports trouble hearing, he must have an ear problem, said one of the
researchers, Dr. Robert D. Frisina of the University of Rochester
Medical Center. Instead, a variety of changes in the brain may be to
blame, and they may also affect how well people process signals from the
other senses.

In earlier research, for example, Dr. Frisina and colleagues found that
as some people grew old, their brains had trouble keeping pace with the
tiny gaps that occurred in understanding, making it harder to follow
what was being said. This may also be a signal of more trouble ahead.



"It seems like the brain problems can oftentimes precede and may
contribute to the later problems when they really start losing
sensitivity to sounds," Dr. Frisina said.

If a hearing problem does not involve the ear, standard treatments are
of no use.

But as researchers get a better understanding of what is going on, Dr.
Frisina said, they may find that drugs like those used to treat other
neurological conditions can help restore the chemical imbalances behind
the problem.



"It may be that in the future we can balance some of these things out
and get a general sensory improvement in the aged," Dr. Frisina said.









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