Combined Vision and Hearing Loss in the CLSA
Channel: Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA/ÉLCV)
Date: 2019-05-22

The purpose of this presentation is to provide a profile of the participants in the CLSA Comprehensive Cohort with combined vision and hearing loss, describe the severity of their impairments, the congruence between objective and subjective measures of sensory impairment, as well as highlight some of the relationships between their sensory loss and cognitive/social variables. A remaining challenge is to measure the severity of the combined sensory impairment, given that vision and hearing are traditionally measured independently. Given the relatively healthy sensory status of the CLSA cohort at baseline, changes in sensory function and the potentially associated changes in cognitive and social variables in future data waves will allow us to examine the effect of sensory loss on cognitive aging and social function.

Dr. Walter Wittich is an assistant professor at the l’École d’optométrie, Université de Montréal, and a resident researcher at the CRIR/Centre de réadaptation MAB-Mackay du CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, as well as the CRIR/Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille du CISSS de laMontérégie-Centre. His research domains include basic sensory science, as well as medical, psychosocial and
rehabilitation approaches to sensory loss.