Older adults receiving rehabilitation for combined vision and hearing impairment report good levels of functional ability and well-being

Purpose : The increase in the number of older adults with Dual Sensory Loss (DSL) warrants research that characterizes this population; yet, most work has focused on single sensory impairment. The limited research is inconclusive as to whether DSL is associated with an additive effect over visual loss (VL) or hearing loss (HL) alone. This study utilized data from a standardized interview-based assessment of sensory loss to characterize the health and functioning of older adults with sensory impairment, and to investigate whether DSL was associated with worse health-related outcomes than VL or HL alone.Methods : The interRAI Community Health Assessment (interRAI CHA) was administered to 200 adults aged 64+ with VL, HL or DSL who were receiving sensory rehabilitation. The interRAI CHA is composed of closed-ended questions, two of which are used to identify DSL. To compare the assessment outcomes of the sensory loss groups, we conducted tests of associations among the three groups (i.e., HL, VL, DSL) and variables related to demographics, sensory loss, and several areas of health and functioning.Results : All three groups showed high functioning in cognition, communication, activities of daily living, mental health, and social relationships. The comparison among groups had mixed outcomes. For instance, the DSL group was more likely to have reduced independence on instrumental activities of daily living when compared to HL, but not VL (chisquare (2, N = 200) = 12.17, p = 0.0023). In contrast, participants with DSL were less likely to experience depressive symptoms than those with VL, and showed similar results to those with HL (Fisher’s p = 0.02).Conclusions : Despite the impact of sensory losses, older adults receiving sensory rehabilitation services tend to have overall good health and a high level of independence. DSL is not always associated with worse outcomes compared to a single sensory loss. Rather, the results vary depending on the task and the comparison group. Findings may not generalize to individuals who are not obtaining rehabilitation. Further research should characterize older adults with DSL who have more severe sensory and cognitive difficulties or those who are not receiving rehabilitation services.

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