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December 11, 2015Study: Aging Confidently May Help Your Hearing
People who feel negatively about getting older, may be negatively affecting their hearing, according to a new study.
The results of the study, led by researchers at the University of Toronto, show that confidence plays a large role in aging adult’s abilities to hear and remember things.“Those who held negative views about getting older and believed they had challenges with their abilities to hear and remember things, also did poorly on the hearing and memory tests,” according to Alison Chasteen, professor in U of T’s Department of Psychology and lead author of the study published in Psychology and Aging.
“People’s feelings about getting older influence their sensory and cognitive functions. Those feelings are often rooted in stereotypes about getting older and comments made by those around them that their hearing and memory are failing. So, we need to take a deeper and broader approach to understanding the factors that influence their daily lives.
“That’s not to say all older adults who demonstrate poor capacities for hearing and memory have negative views of aging. It’s not that negative views on aging cause poor performance in some functions, there is simply a strong correlation between the two when a negative view impacts an individual’s confidence in the ability to function.”
A total of 301 adults aged 56 to 96 were involved in the study, which was coauthored by Phonak AG, researchers at the University of Toronto, Baycrest Health Sciences, and the James H.Quillen VA Medical Center. The research was supported by a Catalyst Grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Read more about the study on Science20.com.
