The Connection Between Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline

Researchers have long sought to draw definitive connections between hearing loss and other medical conditions, and continue to do so today. One area of interest is the role that disabling hearing loss plays when considering dementia. Adults with a mild hearing loss are at risk for developing symptoms associated with dementia and those with severe hearing loss are five times more likely to be diagnosed with it. Additionally, studies have found that hearing loss may be linked to cognitive decline.  

Since the brain plays a significant role in hearing and comprehension when it has to work harder to transcribe information it can physically harm your brain. Hearing aids, like the Unitron Stride, can help by filtering and focusing sound into the ear canal to be sent to the brain via the cochlear nerve. Hearing loss has a connection to not only cognitive decline, but also depression, social isolation, balance, and anxiety. Yet, many people choose not get their hearing checked for fear of needing a hearing aid and the social stigma associated with it.

It is yet to be proven if wearing properly fitted hearing aids can decrease the risk of dementia or slow its onset. A current study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging should show, by 2022 when the study concludes, whether using hearing aids can help preserve brain function in people with hearing loss as they age. Hearing aid technology is more advanced now than ever before so doctors are optimistic about what the results could mean.

The Findings 

A study of 1,984 older adults directed by Dr. Frank R. Lin, otolaryngologist at the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, found that those who initially had hearing loss were 24 percent more likely than their age-mates with normal hearing to experience cognitive decline within six years. When compared with people with normal hearing, their cognitive abilities decline about 40 percent faster, also. They struggled with brain functions like thinking and memory, developing them on average three years earlier than people their age with normal hearing.

“Older adults with hearing loss face an increased risk of dementia even when you control for diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure,” Dr. Lin said in an interview. “So, we think they’re causally related.”

One way Dr. Lin suggests that poor hearing and dementia are linked is “cognitive load” — when you cannot hear well and the brain receives scrambled signals and is forced to work harder to extract meaning from the message. Another way may be that people with poor hearing tend to become socially isolated, which results in a decline in cognitive stimulation and cognitive loss. 

The third possible explanation involves brain structure itself; hearing loss results in a faster rate of brain atrophy mostly over the hearing portion of the brain, which is also involved in memory, learning, and thinking functions.

Grey Matter 

In 2012, Jonathan Peelle and his colleagues at Washington University demonstrated through functional M.R.I. studies that people suffering with mild hearing loss “recruit more of their frontal cortex,” meaning that the part of the brain used for decision-making and thinking is overworked when trying to understand speech.

“Even in young adults with clinically normal hearing, just a small decline in how well they hear engages more of their frontal cortex,” Dr. Peelle said. Studies have shown that with advanced hearing loss, the auditory cortex shrinks, which could reduce the brain’s ability to perform tasks other than hearing.  

Conclusion 

Considering your hearing health as you get older is not only beneficial to how well you can hear, but to maintaining other systems in the body as well. It has been shown that hearing loss affects memory, balance, communication, the brain and other functions throughout the body. When left untreated, disabling hearing loss may also put you at risk for more serious medical conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.  

Locating a hearing healthcare professional to have your hearing tested is as easy as hopping online and finding an office near you. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommends a hearing test “at least every decade through age 50 and every three years thereafter.” Schedule an appointment to receive a thorough diagnosis of your hearing health, and should you need a device, be sure to shop our discount hearing aids.