Aging and its consequences must be reckoned with at one point or another by almost the entirety of the human race. Even those who do not live to old age must cope with the various consequences of aging as they fulfill the roles of relatives, neighbors, co-workers, employees, friends, and many others of people who are living through the aging process. Some, either through sheer luck, preparation, effective help, or some combination manage to age gracefully, while, for others, it can be a disaster. Aging has an effect on every facet of human life. It is, in a way, a second puberty - the body changes in such drastic ways that uncharted territory is reached. In some aspects, new abilities can be gained, in others, what was previously enjoyed is now lost. These changes can be physical, mental, spiritual; the possibilities are endless, and the full consequences of the aging process can never truly be predicted until one is forced to reckon with it in person.
We often create certain stereotypes about the aging process; the way they think, the way they walk, the way they talk. Essentially any way the elderly live life, we, as less experienced members of the human race, have our own preconceived notion as to what the elderly are like, and what the aging process is, should be, ought to be, or should not be. And, in some way, it is difficult not to have preconceived of such a process which almost all of us will live through one day, and which we watch play out in our own families, workplaces, and personal relationships. For some, this may be a coping mechanism, for others, it may be something that just comes naturally. Despite how widespread and ubiquitous ideas about aging are, we rarely stop to ask ourselves what it is like for those experiencing the process right now. We rarely attempt to look at it from there point of view, nor do we look at the multitude of research which can shed new light on how the aging process is experienced and what must be dealt with by those who live through the process every single day of their lives. We often do not stop and think about the true gravity of the changes brought upon by the aging process. We may have ideas on how the elderly communicate a certain way, but we do not stop and think why it is so. This is a grave error on our part as younger members of humanity, who have a duty to ensure a graceful and even enjoyable aging process to those who came prior to us and created everything which we have today. We often do not realize that the natural processes associated with aging can inhibit the very ability of the elderly to communicate effectively, as can be seen by the commonality of communication disorders brought upon by the aging process.
According to one study, “a large survey of more than 12,000 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or more, 42% reported hearing problems, 26% had writing problems, and 7% had problems using the telephone” (Yorkston 2010). These are tremendously large numbers just on their face. A closer look at the data shows that the situation is even more dire than how it appears on its face. The statistics in this dataset start from the age of 65. This is still fairly early in the aging process, and one can still live decades past that. If we assume that these issues are distributed on a bell curve, we can expect the commonality of them to go up exponentially as we move up. However, let us just look at we have already. Almost half of those over 65 have problems hearing. This is the most common issue reported, and this by itself can be a huge impediment to life. Difficulty hearing can lead to social isolation and problems carrying out basic tasks like shopping. About one in every four have problems writing. Think about how essential writing is in life. This can include writing a letter to a friend or relative, but it can also include signing important documents. Again, this very common issue inhibits both the ability to live a fulfilling social life, and to carry out basic tasks necessary for survival. Even those who do not explicitly report hearing or writing problems will experiences changes. The article continues, “a person’s age can be predicted with fair accuracy by speech characteristics including voice tremor, pitch, speaking rate, loudness, and fluency”. This means that everyone will experience some sort of effect, whether it is reported as a problem or not. No matter what, the aging process will effect the ability to communicate.
Even those who can speak and hear clearly can have difficulties processing language due to inevitable cognitive decline. One study found that “older participants read aloud more slowly, and after controlling for aging-related advantages in vocabulary knowledge, produced more speech errors, and self-corrected errors less often than younger participants” (Gollan and Goldrick 2018). It is important to point out that some of the decline was mitigated by higher vocabulary. So, while there are many sacrifices involved in aging, there are also many strengths to having more life experience. That being said, the decline in reading ability and propensity to make errors can still be a problem. If other ways can be found to mitigate the declining skills, aging can turn out to be a positive experience for many as they leverage the newly improved skills gained through vast life experience.
There is much evidence that communication difficulties due to aging can be an impediment to social life. According to one study, “Results from multiple regressions indicated that difficulty communicating was significantly associated with several parameters of social relationships even after controlling for age, gender, partnership status, health, functional limitations, and visual impairment. Communication difficulty was a significant predictor of smaller social network size, fewer positive social exchanges, less frequent participation in social activities, and higher levels of loneliness, but was not a significant predictor of negative social exchanges” (Palmer, Newsom, and Rook 2016). In turn, the absence of social networks can have impacts on both mental and physical health, thus shortening lifespan and worsening it in many ways. This illustrates how fundamental it is to assist the elderly in communication.
There is no single source of communications disorders in old age. Problems may arise through many mechanisms, so a multifaceted approach is necessary to help the elderly reach their full potential. One study found that, for example, “detrimental effects of advancing age on speech recognition can be attributed both to declines in auditory spectral resolution as well as declines in cognitive functions” (Moberly Et Al). This means that we have, in some way, a difficult undertaking. The problem must be tackled from multiple angles. At the same time, it shows that there are many ways we can help. There is much reason to be optimistic for new solutions to arise, as every angle to tackle the problem from has an associated method which can help solve it.
In this case, the problems associated with auditory spectral resolution can be solved using technology such as cochlear implants. There is much research showing their effectively. One study found that “based on evidence of moderate to high quality, we found that bilateral cochlear implantation improved hearing in adults and children with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (Health Quality Ontario 2018)”. As medical technology continues to improve and become more affordable, hearing problems in old age may become a thing of the past.
Cognitive decline can also be mitigated. Research has shown that “combinations of foods and nutrients may act synergistically to provide stronger benefit than those conferred by individual dietary components. Higher adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern has been associated with decreased cognitive decline and incident AD. Another dietary pattern with neuroprotective actions is the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH). The combination of these two dietary patterns has been associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and significant reduction in incident AD” (Dominguez and Barbagallo 2018). This shows that quality diet alone can be a big help throughout the aging process.
I have grown much during this course and during my research on this topic specifically. One could even say that I aged throughout the course. Previously, I had not contemplated this topic much, even though I knew I would have to at some point in life. I realized how great of an effect it can have. I learned to see the aging process as less abstract; as someone which has much research as to its effects and is a well documented process. In a way, it is difficult to accept it, however, at the same time, it is comforting to know that so much medical research has been placed into it and there is much infrastructure built to cope with it.
By Jacob Labudda
Yorkston, Kathryn M et al. “Communication and aging.” Physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North America vol. 21,2 (2010): 309-19. doi:10.1016/j.pmr.2009.12.011
Gollan, Tamar H, and Matthew Goldrick. “Aging deficits in naturalistic speech production and monitoring revealed through reading aloud.” Psychology and aging vol. 34,1 (2019): 25-42. doi:10.1037/pag0000296
Palmer, Andrew D et al. “How does difficulty communicating affect the social relationships of older adults? An exploration using data from a national survey.” Journal of communication disorders vol. 62 (2016): 131-46. doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2016.06.002
Moberly, Aaron C et al. “How does aging affect recognition of spectrally degraded speech?.” The Laryngoscope vol. 128 Suppl 5,Suppl 5 (2018): 10.1002/lary.27457. doi:10.1002/lary.27457
Health Quality Ontario . “Bilateral Cochlear Implantation: A Health Technology Assessment.” Ontario health technology assessment series vol. 18,6 1-139. 24 Oct. 2018
Dominguez, Ligia J, and Mario Barbagallo. “Nutritional prevention of cognitive decline and dementia.” Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis vol. 89,2 276-290. 7 Jun. 2018, doi:10.23750/abm.v89i2.7401
Also by me:
https://medium.com/@j.labudda6296/how-does-the-panopticon-concept-relate-to-modern-day-surveillance-23effdc013f6
