Karen Doherty

Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Arts & Sciences Link

Faculty Affiliate, Aging Studies Institute
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

CAPS Biography:

My research contributes to the CAPS signature theme on health and well-being. The overall focus of my research is related to improving hearing communication for older adults. Hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic disease affecting older adults. In fact, two-thirds of Americans older than 70 years of age will have a hearing loss. I study both the effects of bottom up (peripheral hearing) and top-down (central processes) processing on older people’s ability to perceive speech. In addition, I evaluate factors that are associated with successful hearing aid use. The long-term goal of my research is to increase an individual’s hearing ability and increase the benefit and satisfaction they receive from using different types of hearing technology.  

Recently, we updated and revised the Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test (PHAST-Rv2) (2023), which we originally developed as a clinical tool for clinicians to objectively measure a hearing aid user’s ability to perform critical hearing aid use and care tasks. This is important given one of the main reasons people do not wear their hearing aids is because they do not know how to correctly use them. Untreated hearing loss and low hearing aid use in older adults has been associated with depression and early cognitive decline. The FDA recently approved over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, which allows consumers to buy OTCs aids without visiting a hearing health professional. This should make hearing aids more accessible and affordable to the public, but also may be more challenging for older adults to use. There is a need for healthcare workers and personal care aides (PCAs) who work in skilled nursing or assisted living facilities to receive hearing aid training to effectively assist residents with their hearing aids. In our current research, we developed and are evaluating the benefit of a short, in-person hearing aid training program specifically for healthcare workers.