May 13 (UPI) -- Could loneliness occur for some older folks because they can't hear well enough to maintain essential social connections? Hearing aids appear to be an effective method of countering an epidemic of loneliness among U.S. seniors, a new study says. Seniors given hearing aids retained more friends than others who weren't provided the devices, researchers reported Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine . Folks with hearing aids retained an average of one additional person in their social