08/29/2008
©John M. Adams, III

I get to read a great deal about the hearing community thanks to the web. Reports and academic studies, new product introductions, advances in hearing device technology - it’s a dynamic science with new discoveries almost every day, and a dynamic industry working double time to stay up to date with the latest science.

Sometimes, an article catches my eye and makes me stop and think. I ran across one such study published by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), a highly respected research group within both the vision health and hearing health realms.

In the Spring of 2008, ARVO released the results of a detailed, well-documented study of senior citizens, and, I must say, the study revealed a surprising result, at least to me.

The study showed that test participants who experienced vision loss subsequently experienced hearing loss, as well. Now at first, this didn’t surprise me. As we age, loss of vision and hearing (nerve deafness) are the norm, so of course those experiencing vision loss experience hearing loss. They also experience joint pain and hair growing in places it never grew before but you can’t create a relationship between ear hair and hearing loss.

I continued reading and discovered that, through the selection of participants, the professionals gathering data were able to “neutralize” the age factor in their findings. (Don’t ask me. I barely got through statistics 101!) But I have no reason to doubt ARVO’s findings. It’s a fine organization. Professional and trustworthy, so if ARVO’s study indicates a correlation between vision loss and hearing loss, with age neutralized as a factor, we’re on to something.

The study clearly showed that a loss of vision often led to hearing loss shortly after. For this reason, ARVO recommends its members encourage patients to get a hearing evaluation in conjunction with the remediation of the vision loss.

So, if you’re not seeingas well as you did yesterday, or a few years back, time to get some specs and check your hearing at the same time.

You don’t want to miss a single sight or sound the world has to offer and now, you don’t have to.