HEARING IN THE AGED: ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL DATA IN HUMANS

After a short review of the main anatomical and pathological changes affecting middle and inner ear during senescence, the authors discuss data obtained from their experience and from literature concerning auditory evoked responses changes. The data reported are not univocal but, on the whole, they tend to consider Auditory Evoked Responses (ABRs) changes seen in the aged more due to the hearing loss than to specific abnormalities. Moreover, ABRs do not allow to clarify the exact pathogenesis of presbycusis, since age-related hearing loss is often the result of a physiological functional decline and the effect of exogenous factors (noise, drug assumption, etc.), whose effect is adjuvant. In conclusion, presbycusis can be considered a multifactorial hearing decline, in which genetic factors play presumably a major role