Age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis, is typically diagnosed with pure tone audiometry tests which don’t involve any speech. When hearing ability decreases, auditory perception abilities are logically affected. In this contribution, however, I will argue that several processes beyond auditory perception are also affected.

I will present data from empirical experiments with 74 participants over the age of 50 years (35 men, 39 women; mean age 63, age range 50 – 73 years) with a range of hearing abilities (PTA-high: 5.6 dB – 71.9 dB). Several language-based as well as cognitive tasks were used, including the OLSA (Oldenburger Satztest), a dedicated simple/complex spoken sentence comprehension task (incl. fMRI measures), a word recognition task (vocabulary task), a semantic fluency task (word production task), a backwards digit span task (working memory), and a trail making task (cognitive flexibility).

I will argue that (1) Based on interactions in the data, complex language processing and comprehension are affected disproportionately, whereas simple language doesn’t seem to present an extraordinary challenge for individuals with age-related hearing loss; (2) These effects are persistent and present even when the degree of hearing loss is corrected for in the auditory input (speech recognition thresholds-adjusted loudness levels); (3) Speaking multiple languages with age-related hearing loss might be detrimental for language and cognitive processing (based on the semantic fluency task); (4) This provides an important caveat for ‘cognitive reserve’ accounts claiming that speaking multiple languages in aging potentially protects against cognitive decline. This protection against cognitive decline might not hold for individuals with moderate-to-severe hearing loss.

I will connect these findings to theories of cognitive overload typically applied in educational settings but also relevant to auditory processing with age-related hearing loss. Specifically, we speculate that for individuals with moderate-to-severe hearing loss, there is too much (cognitive) load when processing both of their languages and/or complex language in everyday life.