[The influence of hearing and vestibular impairments on cognitive function in elderly people.]

Cognitive function is a complex brain function that is important in the cognition of the reality and connecting with it. It has a complicated reflex basis, arises from external factors exposure, improves by growing up and learning till its maximum and declines in the elderly age. For several years it was believed that cognitive function drop is connected with ageing processes of the whole organism. However, the results of the latest studies show that it can be affected by many factors. Two of the most influencing factors are hearing and vestibular efficiency. Moreover, hearing and vestibular normalization can even improve the cognitive function. Unfortunately, studies, that describe the role of hearing and vestibular function in the cognitive sphere, are extremely rare. That is why further research is very important, especially in the rehabilitation tactics. For elderly patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss cochlear implantation is the optimal rehabilitation method. However, ear surgery can lead to such complication as vestibular dysfunction. That is why preoperative diagnostics and postoperative care are very important for preventing cognitive impairments.

[Influence of hearing decline on cognitive function in elderly and senier age patients and its assessment after cochlear implantation (literature review).]

The study of the effect of cochlear implantation on cognitive function is an urgent problem, since the world is increasing the population of elderly and senile people who, as a rule, have certain hearing impairments. Age-related hearing loss is one of the most common health problems associated with aging, affecting two-thirds of people over the age of 70. However, few adults are tested for hearing loss, and even fewer are being treated. It is known that hearing loss - the most common sensory deficit-forms the prerequisites for narrowing the range of cognitive functions in the elderly and can serve as a factor accelerating the progression of cognitive changes. We analyzed the available research on the effects of hearing loss and cochlear implantation on cognitive function. It was revealed that for the most part, they had a small sample, the results were not subjected to the necessary statistical analysis, and the tests used were not adapted for hearing impaired people. After analyzing different tests for assessing cognitive function, HI-MoCA and RBANS-H tests were selected, which are adapted for hearing impaired people, which will allow to reliably assess cognitive function in the pre- and postoperative period, as well as to trace the effect of cochlear implantation on cognitive function in postoperative period.