Aging Changes in the Senses

What are the 5 senses?• Taste • Smell• Touch• Vision• Hearing

Stare at the four black dots in the center of the image for 30 - 60 seconds. Then quickly close your eyes and look at something bright (like a lamp or a window with sunlight coming through it). You should see a white circle with an image inside it.

What do you see?

Which senses do you think older people lose first?• Hearing

– It is estimated that 30% of all people over 65 have significant hearing impairment.

• Vision

What kinds of things help older people with these problems?

Changes in hearing

With aging, the eardrum often thickens and the inner ear bones and other structures are affected.

Can you hear this?• http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=RG0O478CQ-E

Taste and Smell• You have approximately 9,000 taste buds. • Your taste buds are primarily responsible for

sensing sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes.• The number of taste buds decreases beginning

at about age 40 to 50 in women and at 50 to 60 in men

• Your mouth produces less saliva as you age. This causes dry mouth, which can make swallowing more difficult. It also makes digestion slightly less efficient and can increase dental problems.

• Loss of taste may be related to diseases, smoking, and environmental exposures over a lifetime.

Touch• The sense of touch also includes awareness of

vibrations, pain, and your body position. The skin, muscles, tendons, joints, and internal organs have receptors that detect touch, temperature, or pain.

• Your brain interprets the type and amount of touch sensation. It also interprets the sensation as pleasant (such as being comfortably warm), unpleasant (such as being very hot) or neutral (such as being aware that you are touching something).

• Many studies have shown that with aging, you may have reduced or changed sensations of pain, vibration, cold, heat, pressure, and touch. It is hard to tell whether these changes are related to aging itself or to the disorders that occur more often in the elderly.

What does this mean?• Problems walking• Hard to tell the difference

between cool and cold• Greater risk of falling• Some may have an

increased sensitivity to touch because of thinner skin.

Conclusion• The 5 senses- taste, smell,

touch, vision, and hearing all diminish as you get older.

• Eldery people may have problems with communication, enjoyment of activities, and social interactions.

• Which sense do you think is the most diminished in Elderly peolple?