The longitudinal impact of psychosocial factors on cognition and hearing in younger and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

Slade, Kate and Davies, Robert and Pennington, Charlotte R. and Plack, Christopher and Nuttall, Helen E (2025) The longitudinal impact of psychosocial factors on cognition and hearing in younger and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. ISSN 1092-4388 (In Press)

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Abstract

Purpose In March 2020, a unique situation unfolded wherein the UK government announced social restriction measures to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Various measures remained in place until April 2021, with older adults, who were considered clinically vulnerable, being placed under stricter restrictions. This study aimed to determine the effect of psychosocial factors, including loneliness, depression, and engagement in various recreational lifestyle activities, on hearing and cognitive function in younger and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods 112 older adults (62 female) aged 60-82 (M = 70.08, SD = 5.89), and 121 younger adults (85 female) aged 18-29 (M = 20.52, SD = 2.63) participated online between June 2020 - February 2022. Participants completed questionnaires assessing loneliness, depression, auditory and lifestyle engagement, and hearing ability, as well as behavioural tasks assessing auditory function and global cognition. All measures were completed 12 times at 4-week intervals. Results Linear mixed effects analyses found that, of the variables examined, increased loneliness was a significantly associated with poorer auditory function. There were no main effects of time during the pandemic on auditory or cognitive outcomes. However, the interaction between time and age group significantly impacted global cognition; in younger adults, global cognition decreased overtime, whereas older adults displayed an unexpected positive change. Conclusions These data show that there are associations between loneliness and auditory function but provide a lack of support for the impact of time experiencing auditory deprivation, or other psychosocial factors, on hearing and cognitive function. Such observations may be underpinned by motivational differences, learning effects, or sample biases. Future research may wish to investigate these factors further, to determine how psychological factors like loneliness affect hearing and wider brain function across diverse participant groups.