Practice Question
The nurse is testing the hearing of an older adult client. Which age-related hearing changes will the nurse keep in mind during the assessment? Select all that apply.
Answer Choices:
Correct Answer:
Progression of hearing loss is slow
Rationale:
✅ B. Progression of hearing loss is slow — Correct
🔷 Presbycusis, the age-related hearing loss, develops gradually over years due to degeneration of inner ear structures.
🔷 Many older adults may not initially recognize their hearing decline because of this slow onset.
🔷 The gradual nature also causes delayed diagnosis because clients slowly adapt to worsening sound reception.
🔷 Slow progression distinguishes presbycusis from sudden sensorineural hearing loss.
🔷 This is a hallmark pattern of age-related auditory decline.
✅ D. Sounds may be garbled and difficult to localize — Correct
🔶 Age-related nerve degeneration reduces the ability to interpret complex sounds, making speech seem unclear.
🔶 Older adults struggle to localize sounds because of inner ear structural decline.
🔶 Conversations, especially in noisy environments, may sound muffled or distorted.
🔶 This contributes significantly to social withdrawal in older adults.
🔶 Poor localization is typical due to decreased auditory nerve conduction.
✅ E. Harder to hear consonants than vowels — Correct
🟧 Consonants are high-frequency sounds, and presbycusis primarily affects high-frequency hearing.
🟧 This makes consonants like “S,” “T,” “K,” and “F” harder to perceive.
🟧 Vowels are lower-frequency sounds, which are typically preserved longer.
🟧 Difficulty with consonants explains why older adults say, “I can hear you, but I can’t understand you.”
🟧 This is a key clinical feature of presbycusis.
❌ Incorrect Options
🔸 Low-frequency tone loss: Presbycusis affects high-frequency, not low-frequency tones.
🔸Middle ear nerve degeneration: Presbycusis affects the inner ear and auditory nerve, not the middle ear.
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From Exam
NR325_Quiz3_Young_CRN1864... bridge_September2025
10 Questions
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- Category: RN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: Examplify Exam(s)
- Domain: Health Assessment
- Answer Choices: 5