Hearing and sociality: the implications of hearing loss on social life

Archana Podury; Nicole T Jiam; Minsu Kim; Jonah I Donnenfield; Amar Dhand

doi:10.3389/fnins.2023.1245434

Hearing and sociality: the implications of hearing loss on social life

Front Neurosci. 2023 Oct 3:17:1245434. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1245434. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Archana Podury^{1

2

3

4}, Nicole T Jiam^{1

2}, Minsu Kim⁵, Jonah I Donnenfield¹, Amar Dhand^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
² Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, United States.
³ Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.
⁵ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States.

Abstract

Hearing is essential to the formation of social relationships and is the principal afferent of social life. Yet hearing loss, which is one of the most prevalent forms of sensory disability worldwide and is critical for social development, has received little attention from the social interventionalist perspective. The purpose of this mini-review is to describe the basic neurobiological principles of hearing and to explore the reciprocal relationships between social support, hearing loss, and its psychosocial comorbidities. We also discuss the role of social enrichment in sensorineural recovery and identify open questions within the fields of hearing physiology and social networks.

Keywords: cochlear implantation; health outcomes; hearing loss; neural plasticity; social isolation; social networks.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

R01 HD099176/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States