Human Growth and Development / Unit 18 HGD 2578 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Vision and Hearing in Late Life
The idea
Late adulthood adds three serious eye diseases, entry 2110. Cataracts cloud the lens and are treatable by outpatient surgery. Age-related macular degeneration damages the centre of the retina, removing central vision. Glaucoma, usually from raised eye pressure damaging the optic nerve, takes peripheral vision first. Presbycusis, age-related hearing decline, begins with high-pitched tones, and lifelong noise exposure is a major predictor, entry 2111.
In practice
One older reader who cannot see the centre of a page, and another who sees it sharply but misses people approaching from the side, as entry 2110 illustrates.
Where people slip
The misconception is that presbycusis means everything sounds quieter; high pitches go first, entry 2111. Exam items describe a symptom and ask for the condition: cloudiness points to cataracts, lost central vision to macular degeneration, tunnel vision to glaucoma, and near-focus trouble to presbyopia, entry 1806.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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