Montreal Cognitive Assessment Hearing Impairment (MoCA-H) in brazilian portuguese: performance analysis

PURPOSE: To analyze the performance of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Hearing Impairment (MoCA-H) in Brazilian Portuguese in neurologically healthy older adults, comparing those with normal hearing and those with hearing loss who use hearing aids. METHODS: Observational, cross-sectional, and quantitative study involving 20 neurologically healthy older adults (with no signs of cognitive decline), matched by age and education, divided into two groups: one with a quadritonal average within normal limits, and the other with bilateral moderate or greater hearing loss, all users of bilateral Hearing Aids (HA). Participants were assessed through anamnesis, pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, tympanometry, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and MoCA-H. Comparisons between groups were conducted using Student's t-test, with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: Similar performance was observed between groups in seven of the eight cognitive domains assessed by the MoCA-H. The only statistically significant difference was found in the visuo-spatial/executive domain, with lower performance in the group with hearing loss. No significant difference was found in the total MoCA-H score between the groups. CONCLUSION: Neurologically healthy older adults with and without treated hearing loss showed similar performance on the MoCA-H tasks. Only the visuospatial/executive task distinguished the groups evaluated. The MoCA-H proved to be an effective and sensitive tool in the cognitive assessment of older adults with moderate to severe hearing loss, at least in the sample studied.