presby-, presbyo-
(Greek: old, relationship to old age, elderly, elder; literally, "he that goes first")
2. Greater than another person in age or seniority; or born before another person; especially, within a family, or having more seniority: "His sister is two years his elder."
3. One of the governing officers of a church, often having pastoral or teaching functions.
Factors to be considered when using the term elder
- The adjective elder is not a synonym for elderly.
- When comparisons are made between two people, elder means "older" but not necessarily "old": "Her elder brother is fourteen."
- The term eldest is used when three or more people are compared: "She is the eldest of four children."
- If age alone is to be expressed, one should use older or elderly instead of elder: "They made a survey of older citizens and his brother is still working as an elderly waiter."
- Unlike elder and its related forms, the adjectives old, older, and oldest can also be applied to things as well as to people.
Demographers use this type of measuring the population to determine if more people are getting older in addition to using median age as a factor.
Symptoms of presbycusis are gradual hearing loss and tinnitus.
The normal process of growing older produces changes in the cochlea and the cochlear nerves and, in other words, damage in the inner ear, and results in permanent sensorineural hearing loss.
Presbycusis most often occurs in both ears and, because the loss of hearing is so gradual, people with presbycusis may not realize that their hearing is diminishing.
Presbycusis is common, affecting a third of the people between 65 and 75 years and up to a half of the people 75 and over.
The only treatment for presbycusis is the wearing of hearing aids which can be worn in the ears or behind the ears.
Other visual communicative techniques, such as lipreading or watching facial expressions, are also helpful in coping with hearing loss.
2. A disorder in the elderly characterized by altered spontaneous movement of the alimentary tract: Mr. Hathaway, affected with presbyesophagus, had to eat very slowly because swallowing his food was very difficult for him.
Presbyophrenic informal conversation normally shows poorness, dullness, immaturity, and simpleness of content. Because ethical conduct is maintained for a comparatively long time, the patient is capable of blending into small social groups, especially because his or her feelings or emotions tend towards happiness and good-naturedness.
The reasons for this loss of the power of accommodation are not yet fully known. It is conventionally said to be a result of the lenses of the eyes becoming less elastic with time.
Presbyopia is associated with aging, however it happens with everyone. The first sign is often the necessity to hold reading material farther away in order to be able to focus on the contents.
The term presbyopia is said to come from the Greek for "elderly vision".
2. A priest or minister in the Episcopal Church: The presbyter is a clergyman of liturgy, word, and charity and has the function of teaching and performing hieratical duties.