Hearing Loss and Dementia

What is dementia?

Dementia is a condition that reduces an individual's mental capacity and is significant enough to interfere with daily life. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is the 6th major cause of death in the United States. Symptoms of Alzheimer's disease include memory loss, the inability to express one's own views, difficulties managing time and other mental conditions, like anxiety, paranoia, depression, frustration and anger.

As such, we should do everything we can to prevent dementia in our later lives. Experts suggest the usual prescriptions, such as eating a healthy diet and getting a lot of exercise, but did you know that treating your hearing could also have a positive effect on the brain?

the link between Hearing Loss and Dementia

Researcher Dr. Frank Lin and his peers recently conducted research monitoring 639 adults for almost 12 years. They found that medium loss led to three times the risk of dementia and those with severe hearing loss have five times the risk.

How might hearing loss lead to a higher likelihood of dementia? Although more research is still needed on the connection between the two conditions, Dr. Lin identifies three reasons that could have led to the increase in dementia risk: cognitive load, changes in brain structure and function, and reduced social engagement. Let’s explore each one in turn.

Compromised hearing affects the capacity of the brain to understand sound quickly and fluently. Instead, listening is slower and less precise. Sound signals sent from the ear are inconsistent. In order to produce meaning from the signals, the mind must fight to fill the blanks. This is a bit like a puzzle with only half the information needed to complete it. The difficulty in making sense of the sentences is much higher.

The brain must give additional focus and concentration to make sense of the sounds it receives. Hearing loss therefore modifies the brain's cognitive patterns. Resources are directed away from other cognitive processes and reallocated to listening instead. The brain overrides the auditory pathways used for healthy hearing patterns.

This means our cognitive load dramatically increases. It becomes a slog to process all that information and we are left mentally and physically exhausted. This impacts our ability do anything else which requires focus, or fine balance coordination. Untreated hearing loss raises the likelihood of falling and accidents due to fewer cognitive resources for stability and coordination.

With untreated hearing loss, the work involved in interacting with others individuals may lead to greater anxiety. Constantly being aware of how hard it is to understand other people’s words, and the fear that others may ‘catch you’ is a sure-fire recipe for worry.

If this anxiety reaches critical mass, individuals may resort to not meeting friends altogether. This can easily lead to social isolation. Social isolation can harm our cognitive skills long-term. Social interactions are essential to keep your mind sharp, stimulating many areas of your brain as you comprehend information received and talk about abstract concepts.

Research by Johns Hopkins and the National Institute for Aging discovered that brain atrophy rates are faster among adults with hearing loss. The areas of your brain which process audio information are not fully applied when you experience hearing loss. These sections of the brain eventually get reassigned to another task, or even die from lack of use. This leads the brain to shrink and accelerates cognitive decline.

The Importance of treating hearing loss

A recent study in France found that hearing aids actually improve cognition for those with hearing loss. The researchers examined a selection of adults from 65 to 85 years with profound deafness in one ear. Each received a hearing aid to strengthen hearing in that ear and after one year, 86 % of participants reported an improvement in their cognitive skills. This shows that alongside an active social life and regular exercise, hearing loss can help slow cognitive decline in older adults.

At Grosse Point Audiology, we are committed helping you treat your hearing loss. While there is no remedy for dementia, hearing loss can be addressed and treated, and this can help foster a lifestyle that helps keep your cognitive abilities strong.

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