Administration Method of Cognitive Screening in Older Individuals With Hearing Loss

The Impact of Test Administration Method on Cognitive Screening Results in Older Individuals With Hearing Loss

The objectives of the current project aim to determine whether a more controlled amplification method or a visual administration has an effect on hearing impaired older individuals' cognitive test scores.

Aim 1 is to create a visually administered condition of a cognitive test and to validate this condition in comparison to the auditory administration. Data will be collected from younger individuals with normal hearing. Each younger individual is tested using both visual and auditory condition and the scores are compared across the two conditions. It is anticipated that the scores will not be significantly different between the two conditions. Aim 2 is to examine the test condition effect on cognitive testing results in older individuals with hearing loss. The three test conditions include auditory unamplified, auditory amplified, and visual. Each older individual will be tested using two different test conditions. It is predicted the auditory amplified and visual administrations will alleviate the cognitive load associated with hearing difficulty and lead to improved performance on the test.

This arm is designed to validate the visual version by comparing to the auditory version in a group of younger normal hearing controls.

The cognitive test will be administered using a computer-based signal processing to amplify the instruction. The presentation level is customized to the individual's hearing thresholds.

The cognitive test will be administered by using a generic presentation level that simulates a normal conversational level.

The cognitive screening test of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was administered to 4 groups with different administration method conditions (see arms/groups table). MoCA is s standardized cognitive screening tool for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. The total score was used as outcome measure of this study and this score ranges from 0-30, with higher score being better performance.

The outcome measure was assessed immediately after the test. This applies to both conditions for all the arms.

Older individuals were presented with lists of words and instructed to repeat them back. After each word list, they had to recall the words.

Inclusion Criteria: Have sensorineural hearing loss Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision Exclusion Criteria: Have conductive hearing loss; Have history of otologic or neurologic disorders Have dementia Non-native speakers of English

The results will be shared in the form of presentations and publications. Study protocol is available upon request.

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