Dementia is increasingly becoming a risk for aging adults who are living longer. Dementia is an umbrella term that encompasses several conditions that reduce cognitive functions. This includes Alzehimer’s – the most common type, Parkinson’s, Lewy Body, and Huntington’s disease. Dementia slows and reduces cognitive functions including memory, decision making, communication, learning etc.
There are no cures or ways of reversing dementia so extensive research focuses on prevention or risk reduction. While research over the past decade has established that hearing loss is a risk factor for dementia, greater emerging research is focusing on interventions which include hearing aids. A new study shows that hearing aids can reduce the risk of dementia by nearly 50%.
Link Between Hearing Loss & Cognitive Decline
Research for a number of years has identified hearing loss as a risk factor for cognitive decline. Studies show that impaired hearing can impact brain health in ways that contribute to cognitive decline. Two significant studies that investigate this link include:
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, published in the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association: this study included 10,107 adults who had their cognitive and hearing capacities evaluated for 8 years. When the study began, participants did not have any cognitive issues. After 8 years of assessment, researchers found that cognitive decline was:
- 30% higher for people with mild hearing loss
- 42% higher for people with moderate hearing loss
- 54% higher for people with severe hearing loss
These findings reveal that people with hearing loss were much more likely to
experience cognitive decline. This data highlights another important finding which is that
the more significant the hearing loss, the higher the risk can be of developing cognitive
decline.
- University of Colorado, published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America: researchers evaluated the impact of hearing loss on brain health by studying the brain. studied how hearing loss impacts the brain. They did this by taking electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings of adults and children with hearing loss. Researchers found that people who had hearing loss also experienced:
- reduced activity in the portions of the brain that are responsible for speech-language comprehension and processing auditory information.
- reorganization in the areas that process visual patterns.
This study is particularly important because it shows specific ways that hearing loss
impacts the brain.Experts suggest that these effects can shrink parts of the brain which
become ineffective (known as brain atrophy) and that these changes can contribute to
cognitive decline and conditions like dementia.
These studies are part of substantial research that looks at hearing loss and brain health. More recent research is evaluating the impact of hearing loss interventions.
Hearing Aids Reduce Risk of Dementia
Hearing aids are a common way that hearing loss is treated. Hearing aids are electronic devices that are equipped with technology that absorbs and processes speech and sound. This provides the ears and brain with ample support that not only alleviates hearing loss symptoms but it also maximizes one’s capacity to hear. Strengthened hearing and communication provides countless benefits including supporting brain health. New studies show that hearing aids can actually significantly reduce the risk of dementia.
A recently published study highlights that hearing aids reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine conducted a randomized control study to look at how hearing aids impact the brain. This study involved more than 3,000 people who were either part of a healthy group of adults and older adults from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a longstanding observational study of cardiovascular health. Participants were randomly divided into two groups: a control group that received counseling in chronic disease prevention or an intervention group that received treatment from an audiologist which included hearing aids. Researchers evaluated both groups every 6 months for three years. They found that the people who were most at risk for developing cognitive decline significantly benefited from wearing hearing aids. Hearing aids slowed the rate of cognitive decline by 48%!
This latest finding suggests that prioritizing hearing health and treating hearing loss with hearing aids can protect brain health. Hearing aids can be a preventative measure for cognitive decline, underscoring the importance of accessing hearing loss treatment.