Tuning in to the 'Sound' Environment: Improve Quality of Life, Sensitize Staff to Hearing-Impaired Residents (Environment for Aging‪)‬

It is now 2008. The population is not only getting older, but it is also living longer. With increased longevity comes the risk of our being subject to the ravages of aging, including lifestyle-related diseases and infirmities. While past models of elder care dealt with a younger population for a shorter amount of time, the challenge now is assisting a population that is, for the most part, collectively dynamic in cognitive and physical capacities. Nonetheless, hearing impairment in this current and coming elder population is proving to be far more acute. A result of technologies such as headphones and higher amplification levels, the boomer generation is now the youngest generation to seek hearing assistance and will have to deal with this for many more years.