The Effects of Age, Hearing Loss, and Communication Difficulty on First Impressions

Within a person perception paradigm, young adults (n = 171) evaluated young and older targets with or without hearing loss or communication problems. On anticipated cognitive performance, older targets were rated lower on visual memory and visuospatial skill but higher on wisdom. Targets with normal hearing and communication difficulty were rated as least competent on the cognitive tasks and most socially distant. Furthermore, the lowest wisdom scores were anticipated for normally hearing young targets exhibiting communication problems. The findings showed that adults of any age were judged less severely for communication difficulties if known to use a hearing aid.