**1. Introduction**

Advancements in health care and technological developments in the areas of preventive medicine and medical technology during the last decades have considerably extended the life expectancy of the human population. As a result, a greater number of people exceed the age of 65. This category of subjects is commonly referred to as seniors or elderly group. With the increasing age, some systems of the human body start to present func‐ tional changes such as degeneration or atrophy of neurons or tissues. People older than 65 years show an increased number of nontransmissible diseases, such as cardiac or metabolic ones [1].

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Associated with the transformation of the body and with the higher incidence of health com‐ plications, the elderly may present sensory, motor, and cognitive alterations. Cellular and molecular damage may also show up due to aging, possibly resulting in sensory loss (hearing or vision) or motor disability. In addition, cognitive changes such as decreased attention and working memory may also be present [1, 2].

All these factors may compromise the quality of life and the independence of the elderly. In addition, these changes can lead this segment of the population to a social isolation and depression [1].

The aging of the auditory system leads to physical, sensory, and neural changes in the peripheral and central portion of the system, which may also cause changes in the sections which receive and process the sound stimuli.

The objective of this chapter is to make a review of hearing loss and auditory processing, while considering the use of amplification technologies (hearing aids) and their intervention in the elderly.
