Supporting Sensory Wellness in Older Adults

Feb 13, 2024

Fact Checked

Diverse sensory activities help the aging brain stay sharp.

Edited by: Donya Currie, MA, Senior Editor at NCOA

Reviewed by: Kathleen Cameron, BSPharm, MPH, Senior Director, NCOA Center for Healthy Aging

Key Takeaways

Sensory stimulation encourages neuroplasticity, which helps the brain compensate for declining senses as we age.
Sensory stimulation particularly benefits those experiencing dementia and cognitive decline.
Sensory stimulation can be especially important for the 94% of older adults in the United States with at least one sensory deficit. ^[1]
Nearly 50% of people in the United States over the age of 75 have disabling hearing loss. ^[2]
Almost 28% of people in the United States 71 and older have vision impairment. ^[3]

As we get older, our senses—vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch—tend to decline. It may become harder to read fine print, hear loved ones talk, or get around the house. Our quality of life may suffer as a result. Sensory loss increases the risk of falls, depression, and loneliness. You can combat these risks by stimulating the brain regularly with sensory inputs.

Maybe you love smelling the vanilla and sampling the cookies when they come out of the oven. Maybe you like touching the feel of soft, cool soil while gardening. These are both examples of sensory-stimulating activities that ward off sensory decline. These activities can range from everyday hobbies like cooking and gardening to medical interventions, such as sensory integration therapy.

Individual needs vary, making it hard to recommend sensory activities for all older adults. Researchers are still testing sensory activities across ages and health conditions. ^[4] But sensory stimulation research shows promising benefits for specific groups, such as people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. ^[5] ^[6] Sensory stimulation can also help older adults reduce anxiety and depression, improve balance, and ease sensory loss.

In this guide, we’ll explore common signs and causes of sensory loss. We’ll also discuss how to protect and stimulate the senses to maintain a high quality of life while aging.

Aging and the sensory system

It’s natural for the senses to decline with age. With time, we may struggle to see in low lighting, hear in crowded rooms, or feel differences in temperature, for example. Causes of sensory decline vary—gradual deterioration, genetic factors, and diseases are all contributing factors.

Understanding sensory changes puts us in a better position to take care of ourselves as we age. We’ll outline common sensory changes so you know what to expect and how to adapt. First, we’ll touch on the brain’s capability to help us adapt.

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is our brain’s ability to rewire as we learn and experience new things. With age, the brain loses some of this flexibility, often cementing niche expertise at the expense of learning new skills. When we don’t stimulate our brains and senses as much, this can speed up negative impacts of sensory loss. For example, if a grandparent has trouble hearing, they might avoid long conversations, which reduces brain stimulation. Cambridge researchers call this a “downward spiral of inactivity.” ^[7]

Older adults can combat this spiral—the key is keeping the brain busy so it’s primed to adapt. Sensory-rich activities, novel environments, physical activity, and cognitive challenges promote neuroplasticity in older adults. When we feed the brain new information and stimulate the senses in novel ways, this can result in new neural connections to support sensory functions.

For example, neuroplasticity can help heighten the remaining senses when one sense is lost. Using functional plasticity, the brain can reallocate resources and neural pathways from a lost sense to the remaining senses. In people with complete loss of sight, the visual cortex might be recruited to process information from other senses, like hearing or touch. Certain sensory activities can trigger these types of adaptive responses in the brain. ^[8]

Multisensory stimulation—engaging multiple senses at once—can help older adults compensate for declining senses as they age, according to a study in the Neurobiology of Aging Journal. When older adults were exposed to both sight and sound cues at the same time, they responded as quickly as younger adults to visual cues alone. ^[9]

How our senses age

Our senses of hearing, vision, touch, smell, and taste tend to decline over time. It’s also common for older adults’ sense of balance to decline, alongside proprioception, which is the ability to sense our body’s position and movement.

Hearing

Nearly half of Americans over the age of 75 have hearing difficulties. ^[2] Older adults may notice these signs of hearing loss ^[10] :

Difficulty understanding people over the phone
Difficulty hearing speech over background noise
Difficulty following conversations when two or more people are talking
Needing the TV volume louder than is comfortable
Thinking that others seem to mumble
Difficulty hearing high-pitched noises

Hearing-loss causes vary for older adults. Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) occurs gradually as the inner ear changes over time and can be hard to notice at first. Noise-induced hearing loss occurs over time, as loud noises degrade hair cells in the inner ear. This weakens the electrical signals that the brain interprets as sound. Prolonged exposure to loud noise also heightens the risk of tinnitus, often an initial sign of hearing decline. Other factors can also contribute to hearing loss, such as genetics, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, ear infections, and certain medications.

Explore the mental health implications of hearing loss.

Vision

Vision declines may start as soon as age 40. Note that older adults with impaired vision are twice as likely to develop conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s. ^[11] Watch for common vision changes as you age:

Close-up vision: The lens in our eye gradually loses flexibility over time, making it harder to focus on close objects; this progressive decline is known as presbyopia.
Low-light vision: Our eye’s rod cells weaken over time, making it harder to focus in low lighting. Many older adults notice this difficulty when driving at night. ^[12]
Dryness: Our tear glands produce fewer tears with age, contributing to dryness or irritation.
Glare: Cataracts can increase glare sensitivity to bright sunlight and car headlights.
Color perception: The clear lens in our eye turns more yellow and opaque with time, making it trickier to distinguish between color shades as we age.
Peripheral vision: Aging gradually narrows the edges of our visual field. Loss of peripheral side vision is often seen with glaucoma, strokes, and other diseases. ^[13]
Disease risk: Adults 60 and older face an increased risk for eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachment, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy.

Touch

Touch sensitivity declines with age. Over time, our skin loses elasticity, and nervous system changes make it harder for our brain to process touch signals. As a result, we may process pressure, temperature, and pain differently. Conditions like arthritis and Parkinson’s Disease can also impact our sense of touch as we age.

These are common implications for touch sensory loss: ^[14]

Reduced temperature sensitivity raises injury risks.
Reduced pain sensitivity may lead to unnoticed injuries.
Reduced lip and tongue sensitivity can cause speech difficulties.
Reduced hand and finger strength can make it hard to grip things.
Reduced pressure/vibration sensitivity raises accident risks, such as pressure ulcers.
Reduced bodily awareness and balance issues can increase fall risk. Arthritis and cerebrovascular disease can worsen balance issues.

Smell

Our ability to smell helps us sense potential danger, recall memories, maintain hygiene, and enjoy daily life. Temporary smell loss can result from stuffy noses, nasal polyps, and certain medications. It’s also natural for our sense of smell to fade over time as our olfactory function declines, particularly after 80 years old. Alongside decreased smell sensitivity, older adults may struggle to distinguish between smells. ^[15]

A declining sense of smell may foreshadow health complications for older adults: ^[16]

Dementia
Cognitive decline
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

Taste

Our sense of taste helps us enjoy food and fuel our bodies with nutrients. Taste and smell are linked; this is because our brains interpret flavor using both the gustatory (taste) function and the olfactory (smell) function. It’s common for these senses to decline at the same time. Sometimes food loses its appeal for older adults experiencing taste and smell loss, putting them at risk for malnutrition and weakened immunity.

Causes of taste loss vary and may include: ^[15]

Drug use
Head injury
Cancer treatments
Olfactory dysfunction
Reduced saliva production
Decreased taste bud sensitivity
Prior upper respiratory infection
Oral and pharyngeal disease (e.g. candidiasis)
Chewing problems related to tooth loss or dentures

Caring for your sensory wellness

Keep the conversation open with your doctor as you notice changes to your hearing, vision, smell, taste, touch, and balance. Your doctor may refer you to specialists who can prevent sensory loss or lessen its effects. While many causes of sensory decline are outside our control, some preventive actions can reduce the risk of sensory loss, like limiting smoking, alcohol use, and noise exposure.

Regular doctor appointments can also highlight sensory changes that predict other health complications. For instance, eye health and diabetes are linked, and impaired vision, hearing, and smell are all individually associated with a higher chance for dementia. Multisensory loss raises the risk of cognitive decline even more. ^[17]

How to protect your hearing

You can take steps to minimize noise-related hearing loss and treat existing hearing loss:

Limit volume: Control music, TV, and headphone levels to prevent excessive noise. Some phones, like the iPhone, allow decibel control for safer listening in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Reduce Loud Sounds. ^[18]
Avoid loud places: Prolonged exposure to noise over 70 decibels can harm hearing. Minimize time at noisy events like concerts. See the CDC’s noise guide for decibel levels in common sources. ^[19] Sound-level-meter smartphone apps can also measure noise decibels around you.
Control exposure: In noisy environments, take breaks and distance yourself from loud sources like speakers. Keep earplugs or earmuffs in your car for times you can’t avoid loud noises.
Consult your doctor: If you suspect hearing loss, your primary care physician may refer you to an otolaryngologist (ENT), who can treat certain hearing conditions, or an audiologist, who can prescribe hearing aids and protective hearing devices. Audiologists can also conduct a baseline hearing test to track hearing loss over time.
Treat existing hearing loss: This may keep your brain healthier for longer. People who use hearing restorative devices have a reduced risk of cognitive decline compared to untreated hearing loss. ^[20] Hearing aids can slow cognitive decline by nearly 50% in older adults who are at high risk of dementia. ^[21]

See our list of accessible communication tools for older adults with hearing loss.

How to protect your sense of taste and smell

These precautions can protect both taste and smell functions in older adults, alongside lowering the impacts of taste and smell loss:

Avoid/limit smoking and alcohol: Alcohol impairs taste sensations while smoking tobacco products impairs both taste and smell sensitivity. ^[22]
See a specialist: Consult your doctor if something seems off with your sense of taste or smell. They may refer you to an otolaryngologist (ENT).
Monitor nutrition: Older adults should take extra care to maintain a balanced diet, as taste loss brings risks of appetite suppression, malnutrition, and weakened immunity. People with taste loss also often use more salt and sugar to boost flavor, which can worsen conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.
Stay safe: Loss of smell makes it harder to detect potentially dangerous odors. Keep smoke and carbon monoxide detectors at home, toss spoiled food, and use caution with toxic household chemicals. ^[15]
Maintain dental hygiene: Dental problems such as gum disease, a dry mouth, or dirty dentures can impair sense of taste. ^[23]

How to protect your sense of touch

Protect your sense of touch with these precautions:

Exercise regularly to improve blood flow.
Manage diabetes and blood sugar to lower nerve-damage risks. ^[24]
Monitor water temperatures closely to avoid burns.
Check the temperature to decide how to dress, instead of waiting to feel hot or cold.
Regularly check your skin and feet for injuries, as these lose sensitivity over time. ^[25]

Sensory-stimulating activities for older adults

Sensory activities offer many benefits for older adults—improved mood, balance, and memory are just a few. Sensory activities also promote neuroplasticity in the aging brain, which can help compensate for declining senses.

When choosing sensory activities, remember that newness helps your brain rewire and form connections. Try to choose a variety of activities. Some older adults benefit from medical sensory interventions like sensory integration therapy, but there are plenty of ways to stimulate the senses in daily life, such as cooking, art-making, journaling, going on walks, and balance exercises.

As you review the sensory activities below, consider which practices can fit into your daily schedule. To help cement new habits, you might recruit a friend for weekly walks or join an aerobic exercise class.

Sensory integration therapy

Sensory integration is the way our senses work together to help us perceive and respond to the world. Sensory integration therapy commonly helps children and adults with conditions that disrupt sensory integration, like sensory processing disorder (SPD), or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ^[26]

Sensory integration therapy is becoming more available to older adults as studies document its benefits for age-related sensory loss. For those with dementia, sensory integration therapy has yielded benefits such as improved mood and attentiveness. ^[5] Studies have also shown benefits for those with Alzheimer’s disease, including improved neuroplasticity, memory, and cognition, (following sensory integrations such as aromatherapy, light therapy, and music therapy). ^[6]

Ask your doctor if sensory integration therapy is right for you. They may refer you to an occupational therapist or physical therapist with training specific to sensory integration. A specialist will evaluate your needs and discuss goals such as improving balance, movement, or ease with daily tasks. From there, they will create a “sensory diet” treatment plan, which often stimulates the senses through repetitive activities.

Learn more or find a sensory integration therapy practitioner:

Learn about a day in the life of an older adult with sensory integration difficulties.
Explore sensory services through Star Institute for Sensory Processing.
Find sensory services through Everything Sensory.

General sensory activities

The following activities stimulate the senses and help offset the negative effects of sensory loss for older adults:

Cooking engages smell, taste, touch, and sight. Smell and memory are intertwined—older adults with memory loss might consider cooking a familiar recipe to spark nostalgia. If your senses of taste and smell are declining, try adding more color and texture to your meals. (See ingredient recommendations for those with diminished taste.) To get started, look through old recipe books; invite friends or family to cook with you. Many senior centers offer cooking classes and heart-healthy cooking demonstrations.

Volunteering may help reduce depression for older adults who have lost more than one sense, according to a study comparing volunteer work, informal helping, and paid employment. ^[27] To get started, find local volunteer opportunities on VolunteerMatch and JustServe.

Spending time with animals can offer older adults feelings of comfort and safety. Sensory-rich farm visits for older adults have been associated with calming effects, increased self-esteem and independence, and improvements in memory. ^[28] To get started, visit loved ones with pets or find animal sanctuaries near you.

Physical sensory activities

Staying physically active helps older adults improve mental health, delay disability, and maintain independent living. Active older adults also have an easier time with the tasks of daily living. For adults over the age of 65, the CDC recommends focusing on moderate to vigorous intensity fitness, muscle-strengthening exercises, and balance-improving activities. ^[29]

Gardening is “multisensory,” as it engages most of our senses. It offers many benefits for older adults, including reduced stress and improved attention. ^[30] The acts of digging, lifting, and carrying also make gardening a good muscle-strengthening activity. ^[31] To get started, start your own garden, join a community garden, or visit public gardens. You can even reap some of the sensory benefits of gardening with indoor herbs.

Going on walks offers a multisensory buffet for older adults—there’s plenty to see, smell, hear, and touch. Studies show that older adults with sensory loss find increased well-being in nature despite lower sensory sensitivity. ^[32] Studies also show that high sensory responsiveness is associated with outdoor walking but not indoor walking. Varied walking settings promote neuroplasticity and may even improve gait. ^[33] To get started, find a weekly walking buddy or hiking group. Vary your walking settings—consider neighborhoods, parks, hiking trails, and outdoor malls.

Balance exercises improve the brain’s ability to combine vision and touch signals as we sense where we are in space. Balance exercises also reduce the risk of falls for older adults. ^[34] Consult your doctor before trying new balance exercises. To get started at home, try these at-home balance exercises. Also consider exercise video games, such as the Nintendo Wii Fit. ^[35] For exercise classes outside of the home, tai chi, yoga, and dancing improve balance for older adults. Seek out fitness classes and free community events.

Aerobic exercises engage multiple senses while offering moderate and vigorous ways to stay active. To get started at home, solidify a routine for walking, running, or bicycle riding. Some housework and yard work, like raking and lawn mowing, can double as aerobic exercise. To get started outside of the home, seek out fitness classes like those offered at your local senior center and free community events for dancing, aerobic fitness, or water aerobics. ^[31]

Artistic sensory activities

Art-making offers plenty of sensory-rich experiences for older adults, including the visual stimulation of painting or the tactile satisfaction of pottery. The benefits extend beyond sensory stimulation—research connects art-making with improved memory, creativity, problem-solving, reaction time, and overall quality of life. Look into classes and groups at your local community center or senior center. Here are a few artistic sensory activities to consider ^[36] :

Visual art-making can reduce anxiety and improve self-esteem in older adults. Older adults who participate in visual arts also tend to derive personal satisfaction from their art and perceive their lives as more meaningful. Visual arts may include painting, pottery, or textile art classes.

Music-making, including singing and instrumental music, has been shown to reduce anxiety, depression, and loneliness in older adults. It also helps improve cognitive flexibility, verbal working memory, and nonverbal memory recall. To get started, consider joining a local choir or instrumental music group. You might also think about taking lessons to learn an instrument.

Theater arts offer older adults a highly stimulating, social, and creative environment. Older adults who participate in theater report high self-esteem, cognitive improvements (comprehension, creativity, problem-solving), memory improvements (word recall, story recall), and ease of daily living. Learn more about how to get involved in community theater.

Bottom line

Understanding the sensory changes of aging—declines to vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and balance—can help you prevent further sensory loss and lessen the negative effects.

While sensory declines are often unavoidable as we age, limiting certain hazards like smoking, alcohol use, and loud noises may reduce further sensory loss. It’s also important to expose the brain to sensory-rich activities as we age. Regularly participating in sensory-stimulating activities like volunteering, gardening, and exercising can help improve well-being, reduce feelings of anxiety and depression, and enhance cognitive functions.

Have questions about this review? Email us at reviewsteam@ncoa.org.

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