A groundbreaking new study has shed light on the surprising link between hearing loss, loneliness, and lifespan. Researchers from the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery found that adults with hearing loss who used hearing aids or cochlear implants were more socially engaged and felt less isolated compared to those who didn’t use them.

The study, published in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, is the first to link hearing aids and cochlear implants to improved social lives among adults with hearing loss. The researchers conducted a comprehensive review of 65 previously published studies, encompassing over five thousand participants, on how hearing aids and cochlear implants affect three key measures: social quality of life, perceived social handicap, and loneliness.

The findings suggest that hearing devices can help prevent the social disconnection and broader health consequences that can follow untreated hearing loss. When left unaddressed, hearing loss can make communication difficult, leading people to withdraw from conversations and social activities. This can lead to mental stimulation reduction, increased risk of loneliness, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, and dementia.

The researchers found that adults using hearing devices feel more socially connected and less limited in social situations. They are better able to engage in group conversations and feel more at ease in noisy or challenging listening environments. Participants also reported feeling less socially handicapped by their hearing loss, with fewer barriers and frustrations during interactions and an improved ability to stay engaged without feeling excluded.

Those with cochlear implants reported the most improvement in their social quality of life, likely because cochlear implants offer greater hearing restoration than hearing aids, especially for individuals with more severe hearing loss. As a result, they may experience more noticeable improvements in social engagement once their hearing is restored.

While it was outside the scope of the study to measure how better social lives relate to improved cognitive outcomes, the researchers believe there may be a connection. Previous research has found managing hearing loss may be key to reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. The study’s lead researcher, Janet Choi, MD, MPH, an otolaryngologist with Keck Medicine, believes that by restoring clearer communication, hearing devices may help preserve cognitive health by keeping the brain more actively involved and people more connected.

This research follows a January 2024 study by Choi showing that adults with hearing loss who use hearing aids have an almost 25% lower risk of mortality, suggesting that treating hearing loss can improve lifespan as well as social quality of life. These findings add to a growing body of research showing that hearing health is deeply connected to overall well-being.

The menopause transition is a significant milestone in a woman’s life, marked by hormonal changes that can impact her mental health. While there has been extensive research on depression during this period, the relationship between age and emotional arousal, including anger, remains relatively understudied. A new study published online in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society, sheds light on this aspect, revealing a surprising decline in women’s anger traits starting at midlife.

Anger is often confused with hostility, but these emotions have distinct characteristics. Anger refers to antagonism toward someone or something, whereas hostility implies a fear-eliciting emotion and a propensity for constant readiness to fight. Previous studies have explored the link between anger and heart disease in midlife women, showing that increased trait anger (anger proneness) is associated with higher blood pressure and carotid atherosclerosis.

However, no study has examined how anger traits progress through the menopause transition until now. This new analysis involved over 500 women aged 35 to 55 years, aiming to investigate the impact of aging and reproductive-aging stages on their reports of anger. The results indicate that chronological age is significantly related to most anger measures, including anger temperament, anger reaction, anger expressed aggressively, and hostility. These forms of anger decrease substantially with age, suggesting better emotion regulation during midlife.

The study also found that reproductive-aging stages affect anger, resulting in a decline after the late-reproductive stages. This suggests that as women enter menopause, they become more adept at managing their emotions. It is essential to conduct further research on women’s anger in everyday life to inform effective emotion regulation and anger management strategies for midlife and older women.

Dr. Monica Christmas, associate medical director for The Menopause Society, emphasizes the importance of educating women about potential mood changes during vulnerable windows and actively managing symptoms to improve overall quality of life and health.

For over a century, the notion that left-handed individuals are more creative has been a widespread belief. However, new research from Cornell University’s psychology department has found no evidence to support this claim. In fact, the data suggest that right-handed people may be more creative in some contexts.

Daniel Casasanto, associate professor of psychology and senior author of “Handedness and Creativity: Facts and Fictions,” published in the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, led the study. He analyzed nearly 1,000 scientific papers on handedness and creativity, published since 1900, to find that most studies did not support any advantage for left-handed individuals.

The research team conducted a meta-analysis, sorting through relevant studies and identifying those with standardized data reporting. They found only 17 studies meeting these criteria, which reported nearly 50 effect sizes. These analyses revealed little difference in creativity between left- and right-handers, with some tests even showing a small advantage for right-handers.

Casasanto suggests that the persistence of this myth may be due to several factors. One reason is “left-handed exceptionalism,” where people assume that being left-handed is rare and creative genius is also uncommon, so perhaps one explains the other. Another factor is the popular perception that creative geniuses are often mentally ill, which coincidentally is more prevalent among artists.

This phenomenon is known as the “myth of the tortured artist.” Casasanto notes that this idea may have contributed to the appeal and staying power of the lefty creativity myth. Additionally, the focus on art and music as creative professions where left-handers are overrepresented can lead to statistical cherry-picking, where researchers select studies with small or biased samples to support their claims.

In conclusion, the data do not support any advantage in creative thinking for left-handers. If anything, right-handers may have a slight edge in some laboratory tests. The widespread belief that left-handed individuals are more creative is simply not supported by the evidence.