Abstract
Hearing impairment is the most common medical problem affecting persons over 65 years of age.1 Moreover, the most common cause of sensorineural hearing loss in the adult population is presbycusis,2 hearing loss attributed to aging. Once a diagnosis of presbycusis or another disorder is established, a program of aural rehabilitation can be initiated. Dizziness and imbalance are very common complaints among older persons but are often difficult to diagnose and manage because balance is subserved by a complex interrelationship between the vestibular, visual, and somatosensory systems, along with their central nervous system connections and pathways. Furthermore, each system is subject to the degenerative processes of aging. This chapter focuses on those problems affecting the elderly patient relative to the field of otology: the auditory system, clinical audiology, and the vestibular system.
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Mhoon, E.E. (1997). Otologic Changes and Disorders. In: Cassel, C.K., et al. Geriatric Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2705-0_46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2705-0_46
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