Age-related hearing loss is an impaired hearing ability that happens as one age. In most cases, age-related hearing loss or presbycusis or senile deafness affects both ears.

Presbycusis develops as one appears to be in their thirties or forties and worsens gradually over time. It is more prominent in people between the ages of 65 and 74.

It usually begins with the inability to hear high-frequency sounds, such as speech. Such people may have difficulty understanding what others are talking about, especially when the background noise is too high, such as at a party. But as the hearing loss is gradual, they may not understand in the first place that their hearing capacity is reducing. They may turn up the volume of the television or start speaking louder without even knowing this.