HIV Linked to Worse Hearing in Older Adults
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BernardaSv/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A new study tied HIV to inferior hearing in older adults.
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, researchers looked at data from 396 patients, including 222 who were HIV positive. Each patient had their hearing tested using tones at various frequencies.
Researchers said that both the higher and lower frequency sounds were less likely to be heard by HIV-positive patients. That result was consistent regardless of which ear was tested.
The study noted that high-frequency hearing loss is consistent with accelerated aging, but that low-frequency hearing loss in middle-aged adults, such as those tested, was “unexpected.” They also noted that some sounds in the English language have naturally low-frequency acoustic energy, HIV-positive patients may have harder time hearing speech.
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