Issues in Cognition, Audition and Amplification (part 1); Identifying and Managing: Hearing, Listening and Neurocognitive Disorders (part 2)

Session Description

The relationship between auditory processing, hearing, listening, cognition and language is vast, intricate, and interdependent. In this presentation, we’ll explore the differences and demographics of hearing and listening disorders and we’ll explore when and why a cognitive screening might be in order and what to do with the results! Of note, hearing, listening and cognitive disorders are not silos. Not only can disorders of these types co-exist, they often do. Further, they masquerade as each other. Patient-centered care and good medical practice demands diagnosis first, treatment second. Although we are all familiar with this concept, hearing healthcare is often not practiced in accordance with Best Practices (BPs) protocols from the American Academy of Audiology, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, or the International Hearing Society. Of note, patients presenting with normal thresholds, speech-in-noise (SIN) problems and/or hearing difficulty are rarely evaluated in accordance with BPs. In this presentation, we will address why patients with normal thresholds often have undiagnosed anomalies (such as cognitive disorders, neuro-cognitive disorders, dementia, traumatic brain injury, blast injury, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, cochlear synaptopathy, auditory processing disorders, auditory neuropathy, etc.) as well as how to detect these problems, and what to do about them! We will review four hypothesis which explore why cognitive changes and hearing loss often co-exist, and why the “common cause” hypothesis is of particular importance.