This case-control study will include 180 middle aged adults (90 cases, 90 healthy controls) matched on sex, age, education level in order to find an association between severe and profound hearing loss and presence of mild cognitive impairment.~90 subjects with severe to profound hearing loss,, with a maximum speech intelligibility of 70% for Fournier's disyllabic words in silence with properly fitted hearing aids could be included. Cognition evaluated on a battery of 5 tests, depression and dependance will be compared to healthy controls with normal hearing on pure-tone audiometry (as function of ISO 7029 reference) The subjects (cases and controls) will be recruited in the ENT consultation from the Cochlear Implant Center (Unité fonctionnelle implants auditifs, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Head: Dr Isabelle Mosnier)
A mild cognitive impairment was observed in 50% of cochlear implant candidates aged 65 years and over, compared to 5-19% in general population. No studies analysed cognition in patients younger than 65 years. The aim of our study was to compare cognitive function between patients with severe and profound hearing loss and patients with normal hearing in patients aged 45 to 64 years.