According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 25 percent of seniors say they have little or no contact with others, and 33 percent report they feel lonely. This isolation has been linked at least in part to untreated hearing loss, which makes communication difficult and can interfere with building relationships.

Providing seniors with hearing aids can help them keep social connections that often otherwise fade over time, a study led by researchers at New York University has found. “Helping aging patients hear better can also enrich their social lives and boost their mental and physical well-being,” Nicholas Reed, lead author on the study, told TheDoctor.

People who get hearing care tend to do better over time than those who do not.

Over 975 people taking part in the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) trial at four sites in Maryland, North Carolina, Minnesota and Mississippi participated in the study. All were between 70 and 84 years old and had untreated hearing loss.

Participants were placed in one of two groups at random. People in the hearing intervention group were given hearing aids and had four sessions with an audiologist that included counseling and education.

People in the other group served as a control group. They had four sessions with a certified health educator and were educated about chronic disease and disability prevention.

Participants answered questions about their social networks at the start of the study. Then researchers followed up at six months and every year for three years. To measure social isolation, the researchers asked participants how often they spent time with others, the size and type of their social networks and the role they played in each network. People who were in the hearing aid intervention group were also queried about how deeply they felt connected to members of their social networks.

Wearing a hearing aid led to reduced feelings of social isolation among members of the hearing aid intervention group.

Hearing aid group members didn't just remain more connected socially — they added to their networks. They added one person to their social network over the study's three years. The size of this effect surprised the researchers, said Reed, an audiologist and faculty member at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and a member of the Optimal Aging Institute at NYU.

One of the most interesting aspects of the study, he said, was that it was passive. The intervention only corrected hearing loss. Any effect on social isolation occurred independently of the intervention.

People in the hearing intervention group also had more diverse social networks than those in the control group. They had more different types of connections that included family, friends and acquaintances. They also maintained deeper bonds with the people in their networks.

Seniors given hearing aids reported feeling less lonely than when they enrolled in the study. Those not offered hearing aids said they felt lonelier.

Loneliness was measured using a 20-question scoring system to determine how often participants felt disconnected from others. Before treatment, people in both groups said they felt equally lonely. After three years, those in the hearing intervention group reported feeling less lonely than when they enrolled in the study, while those in the control group said they felt lonelier.

To see if the benefits of the hearing intervention last or if they decrease as part of the aging process, the researchers plan to follow the participants for another three years. “It will be interesting to see how long these benefits are maintained and if they increase over time,” said Reed, adding that people who get hearing care tend to do better over time than those who do not.

Cost is a hurdle for many. Hearing care in the U.S. can cost about $4,700 and is usually paid for out of pocket, Josef Coresh, a coauthor on the study and a coprincipal investigator on the ACHIEVE trial, said in a statement. As a result, people with hearing aids often have a higher income than those who do not and are likely to be more educated and white. The researchers hope to repeat the study with a more diverse study population.

The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.