Lecture 6: Sensory and Perceptual Changes Flashcards
When it comes to general aging, there is a decline in acuity of senses; what are the senses affected?
Vison
Audition
Somatosensory
Gustatory
Olfactory
Vestibular
What are the reasons why visual acuity declines?
changes in our visual system which occur with normal aging
there are also a number of disorders that increase this in prevalence with age
What are some examples of age-related changes in vision?
cornea becomes thicker and less curved
arcus senilis
anterior chamber become smaller; aqueous humorous may drain inadequately, causing increased intraocular pressure and glaucoma
iris colour fades and pupil diameter decreases
the lens: continues to grow, becomes less elastic, denser, and yellower this causes changes in colour vision (likelihood of presbyopia increases
vitreous humour becomes more liquid. loose cells may cause shadows; retina: vessels & capillaries narrow, loss & change in chemical sensitivity of rods & cones
What are the four leading causes of blindness?
cataracts, age related macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy
What are cataracts?
lens become cloudy and develops opaque areas that block light from passing through
usually associated with blurred vision
What is the leading cause of blindness?
glaucoma
what is glaucoma?
caused by inadequate drainage of the aqueous humor can lead to optic nerve damage
Can be gradually (open angled) or sudden (closed angle)
What is macular degeneration?
Tissue in macula deteriorates causing blind spot in the middle of vision
Occurs mostly in individuals over 60; not reversible however, depending on the extent vision loss may be reduced
Why does auditory acuity decline? (slide 21)
it is part of the normal changes that occur with age
increased risk of disorder that result in hearing loss
What changes are observed in the auditory system in normal aging? (slides 26)
the pinna loses flexibility
and hairs become stiffer
Tympanic, oval window, and round window
membranes become less flexible
Calcification of the ossicles
Lessened efficiency of the
acoustic reflex
What are the 3 types of hearing impairment?
conductive, sensorineural and mixed
What is a conductive hearing impairment and what are examples?
when something is interfering with transmission of sound through the outer/middle ear; impact cerumen or an arthritic change in ossicles
What is sensorineural hearing impairment and what are some examples?
when disorders of the inner ear affect the transmission of sound to auditory pathways or receptors; presbycusis
What is a mixed hearing impairment?
a mixture of conductive and sensorineural
What are risk factors for hearing loss?
Aging, heredity, occupational noises (construction, farming, factory), recreational noises (snowmobiling, motorcycles, loud music) and medications & illness (meningitis)
What are the implications of hearing loss?
An individual with hearing loss will find it difficult to distinguish spoken words, personality changes and many need to wear hearing aids or cochlear implants for profoundly deaf
What are 3 hearing disorders that we look at?
presbycusis, tinnitus, otosclerosis
What is presbycusis?
high frequency sounds affected, leads to lexical discrimination problems esp. when sounds include a lot of energy at high frequencies
hearing loss that occurs in both ears; usually greater for higher pitched sounds
What are the 4 types of presbycusis?
sensory, neural, strial/metabolic and mechanical
What is sensory presbycusis?
degeneration of the organ of corti
What is neural presbycusis?
loss of neurons of cochlea and higher auditory pathway
What is a serial/metabolic presbycusis?
atrophy of fibrous vascular cochlear tissue
What is mechanical presbycusis?
affects the basilar membrane of the cochlea
What is Tinnitus?
Ringing, roaring, clicking or hissing in the ear
causes are hearing loss, Exposure to loud noise, Medications , Allergies, tumours, issues in the heart, blood vessels and jaws and neck
What is Otosclerosis?
Bilateral hearing impairment caused by abnormal bone formation, occurs in oval window and eventually immobilizes the stapes
What are interventions for otosclerosis?
hearing aids
surgery; stapedectomy (removal of the
stapes bone; prosthesis is substituted for the
non-functioning stapes bone.
How is speech perception affected in aging?
Speech perception declines due to sensory problem (hearing loss) and cognitive changes(processing speed, inhibitory function)
Declines are marked when background noise is present (ie; at a party)
What is sensory integration?
when you use visual information to aid speech understanding also known as visual enhancement (occurs for both younger and older adults
What is lexical discrimination?
refers to uniquely selecting a single word as the input
What is Elderspeak?
manner of communicating to older people
using a slow rate of speaking, simplified syntax,
vocabulary restrictions, and exaggerated prosody on the assumption that their age makes them
cognitively impaired
What are features of elderspeak?
Using terms like honey or dear
repeating or paraphrasing what what had just been said
Speaking slowly and with limited vocabulary
Using a singsong voice, change pitch and tone, exaggerate words
Using statement that sound like a questions
What are effects of elderspeak?
Can reinforce negative stereotypes about aging and erode an older adults self esteem
Can influence older adults evaluation of their abilities
People exposed to negative images of aging perform significantly worse on memory and balances test and show higher levels of stress
How does elderspeak decrease comprehension?
Confusing when words are exaggerated
Hard to understand statement that sounds like a question
Talking too slowly affects the listeners ability to focus on the main point and retain info
