Perceived Hearing Loss, Social Disengagement, and Declines in Memory.

A growing body of evidence suggests that age-related hearing loss is related to changes in older adults' memory. We test the hypothesis that the association is due to social disengagement following the onset of perceived hearing loss. At ages 65 (2004) and 72 years (2011), 3,986 participants from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) self-reported on hearing problems and several types of social engagement and completed three tests of memory. We estimated fixed effects regression models. Perceived hearing loss was related to significant decline in memory. Declines in frequency of in-person social contact were also associated with declining memory, but there was no evidence of a mechanism wherein reductions in social engagement explained the association between perceived hearing loss and memory decline. We conclude that self-reported hearing loss and social disengagement are likely independent risk factors for memory loss among older adults.