Reduction in social network size smaller with hearing intervention versus health education control
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 12, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For older adults with untreated hearing loss, a hearing intervention reduces social isolation, according to a study published online May 12 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Nicholas S. Reed, Au.D., Ph.D., from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues describe the effect of a best-practice hearing intervention versus health education control on social isolation and loneliness during a three-year period in a secondary analysis of a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Participants included 977 adults aged 70 to 84 years with untreated hearing loss without substantial cognitive impairment who were randomly assigned to a hearing intervention (four sessions with certified audiologist, hearing aids, counseling, and education) or health education control (four sessions with a certified health educator) in a 1:1 ratio and followed up every six months.
The researchers found that the mean social network size reduced from 22.6 to 21.3 and from 22.3 to 19.8 people in the hearing intervention and health control arms, respectively, over three years. Compared with health education control, the hearing intervention reduced social isolation (social network size, diversity, embeddedness [differences, 1.05, 0.19, and 0.27, respectively]), and reduced loneliness [difference, −0.94]) over three years in fully adjusted models. In sensitivity analyses, results were substantively unchanged.
“Given the high prevalence of hearing loss among older adults and already established delivery models, hearing intervention represents a public health target for population-level reductions in social isolation and loneliness,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to industry.
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