Associations between Age-related Hearing Loss, Late-life Depression, and
Cognitive Decline 
   Lead Investigator:    Katharine Brewster
   Institution      :    New York State Psychiatric Institute / Columbia
   E-Mail           :    Katharine.Brewster@nyspi.columbia.edu
   Proposal ID      :    1019



   Proposal Description:
   Background:  It has been hypothesized that hearing impairment is linked to cognitive impairment and dementia, however little is known about which aspect of cognition is most severely affected. Recent neuroimaging studies have begun to elucidate possible pathways by which hearing loss may cause cognitive dysfunction. Hearing loss is associated with increased activity in the cognitive control network to support effortful listening, and chronic deafferentiation of auditory and cognitive control networks is associated with atrophy of prefrontal structures. Therefore, we hypothesize that the degraded auditory input from hearing impairment may most prominently affect executive dysfunction over other cognitive domains.                                          Goals:    1) To examine the relationship between hearing impairment and various cognitive domains including executive functioning, processing speed, episodic memory, attention, language, as well as global memory.                                     2) Utilize data from NACC-UDS to compare longitudinal trajectories of self-reported hearing loss and hearing aid use to trajectories of cognitive domains evaluated in the neuropsychological battery