The ability to understand speech declines with age in everyone. Hearing that is compensated for with hearing aids helps people stay active and mentally sharp for longer.

Your grandson gushes excitedly about his field trip, the news anchor reports on the day’s headlines, your daughter calls out from the other room—understanding spoken language can become a greater challenge as you age. As researchers at the University of Cambridge and the MRC Institute of Hearing in Nottingham, among others, have found, speech comprehension declines with age in everyone: Older adults, whether they have hearing problems or not, do not understand spoken language as well as younger people, especially in noisy environments.

Speech comprehension is extremely important for everyday communication. One of the most important preventive measures is to protect your hearing from noise. Prolonged exposure to high noise levels significantly contributes to the loss of sensitivity in the hair cells, leading to a decline in speech comprehension. Even at night, our hearing never stops—on the contrary, our ears are actually particularly sensitive. Thus, sleep also serves as a recovery period for our ears. It is especially important to take care of them during this time to reduce the risk of hearing loss. If hearing is no longer fully functional, memory can also begin to decline. To counteract this, seniors can keep their memory sharp through cognitive training programs that promote and challenge concentration and recall.
This is another reason why, as we age, it becomes increasingly important to have our hearing tested regularly so that hearing problems can be treated early and hearing loss can be compensated for.