Dual Sensory Impairment (DSI)

Concurrent vision and hearing impairment (DSI), also termed dual sensory impairment, is strongly age related, affecting about 6% of community-dwelling adults aged 55 and older and increasing to 26.8% of those aged 80 and older. It is assumed that individuals with DSI experience more than the sum of the consequences of vision or hearing impairment alone as both sensory systems can be complementary. While vision is important for spatial perception and interaction with the physical world, hearing is important for interaction with the social world and both sensory systems can be used synergistically. For example, when listening in noisy environments, congruent visual cues can increase speech understanding, and under poor visual conditions or for individuals with low vision, echolocation supports spatial perception and navigation. For ...