Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May;162(5):622-633.
doi: 10.1177/0194599820910377. Epub 2020 Mar 10.

Hearing Loss, Loneliness, and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review

Aishwarya Shukla  1   2 , Michael Harper  1 , Emily Pedersen  2 , Adele Goman  2   3 , Jonathan J Suen  2   4 , Carrie Price  5 , Jeremy Applebaum  1 , Matthew Hoyer  1 , Frank R Lin  2   3   6 , Nicholas S Reed  2   3   6
Affiliations

Hearing Loss, Loneliness, and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review

Aishwarya Shukla et al. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 May.

Abstract

Objective: Social isolation and loneliness are associated with increased mortality and higher health care spending in older adults. Hearing loss is a common condition in older adults and impairs communication and social interactions. The objective of this review is to summarize the current state of the literature exploring the association between hearing loss and social isolation and/or loneliness.

Data sources: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library.

Review methods: Articles were screened for inclusion by 2 independent reviewers, with a third reviewer for adjudication. English-language studies of older adults with hearing loss that used a validated measure of social isolation or loneliness were included. A modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of the studies included in the review.

Results: Of the 2495 identified studies, 14 were included in the review. Most of the studies (12/14) were cross-sectional. Despite the heterogeneity of assessment methods for hearing status (self-report or objective audiometry), loneliness, and social isolation, most multivariable-adjusted studies found that hearing loss was associated with higher risk of loneliness and social isolation. Several studies found an effect modification of gender such that among women, hearing loss was more strongly associated with loneliness and social isolation than among men.

Conclusions: Our findings that hearing loss is associated with loneliness and social isolation have important implications for the cognitive and psychosocial health of older adults. Future studies should investigate whether treating hearing loss can decrease loneliness and social isolation in older adults.

Keywords: hearing loss; loneliness; older adults; social isolation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures

Competing interests: Adele Goman is a consultant to Cochlear Americas Ltd and to Auditory Insight. Frank R. Lin is a consultant to Boehringer-Ingelheim, Amplifon, and Cochlear; receives speaker fees from Caption Call; is a board member for Access Hears; has received grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Eleanor Schwartz Charitable Foundation during the conduct of the study; and is the director of a research center based at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health funded in part by a philanthropic gift from Cochlear Ltd. Nicholas S. Reed is a scientific advisor (nonfinancial) to Shoebox, Inc and consultant to Helen of Troy.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flowchart of study selection for inclusion in the systematic review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hawkley LC, Cacioppo JT. Loneliness and pathways to disease. Brain Behav Immun. 2003;17(1):98–105. - PubMed
    1. Cudjoe TK, Roth DL, Szanton SL, Wolff JL, Boyd CM, Thorpe RJ. The epidemiology of social isolation: National Health and Aging Trends Study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2018;75(1):107–113. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wenger GC, Davies R, Shahtahmasebi S, Scott A. Social isolation and loneliness in old age: review and model refinement. Ageing Soc. 1996;16(3):333–358.
    1. Victor CR, Bowling A. A longitudinal analysis of loneliness among older people in Great Britain. J Psychol. 2012;146(3): 313–331. - PubMed
    1. Gopinath B, Rochtchina E, Anstey KJ, Mitchell P. Living alone and risk of mortality in older, community-dwelling adults. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(4):320–321. - PubMed

Publication types