Cognitive decline and hearing loss, what’s the link? Medical science has found a connection between brain health and hearing loss. It was discovered that even mild neglected hearing impairment raises your risk of developing cognitive decline.
Researchers believe that there may be a pathological link between these two seemingly unrelated health issues. So, how does hearing loss put you in danger of dementia and how can a hearing exam help combat it?
Dementia, what is it?
The Mayo Clinic reveals that dementia is a group of symptoms that alter memory, alter the ability to think clearly, and decrease socialization skills. Individuals tend to think of Alzheimer’s disease when they hear dementia probably because it is a prevalent form. Alzheimer’s means progressive dementia that affects about five million people in the U.S. Today, medical science has a complete understanding of how ear health increases the danger of dementias like Alzheimer’s disease.
How hearing works
When it comes to good hearing, every part of the intricate ear component matters. Waves of sound go inside the ear canal and are amplified as they move toward the inner ear. Electrical signals are sent to the brain for decoding by tiny little hairs in the inner ear that shake in response to waves of sound.
Over time, many individuals develop a slow decline in their ability to hear because of years of damage to these fragile hair cells. Comprehension of sound becomes a lot harder because of the decrease of electrical impulses to the brain.
This gradual hearing loss is sometimes regarded as a normal and inconsequential part of the aging process, but research indicates that’s not accurate. Whether the signals are unclear and garbled, the brain will try to decode them anyway. That effort puts stress on the organ, making the individual struggling to hear more susceptible to developing cognitive decline.
Here are a few disease risk factors with hearing loss in common:
- Inability to master new tasks
- Depression
- Memory impairment
- Exhaustion
- Overall diminished health
- Irritability
- Reduction in alertness
And the more severe your hearing loss the higher your risk of dementia. Even slight hearing loss can double the risk of cognitive decline. Hearing loss that is more significant will bring the risk up by three times and extremely severe neglected hearing loss can put you at up to a five times higher risk. The cognitive skills of more than 2,000 older adults were observed by Johns Hopkins University over six years. Memory and cognitive issues are 24 percent more likely in individuals who have hearing loss extreme enough to disrupt conversation, according to this study.
Why is a hearing test worthwhile?
Hearing loss affects the general health and that would most likely surprise many people. For most people, the decline is progressive so they don’t always realize there is an issue. As hearing declines, the human brain adjusts gradually so it makes it less noticeable.
Scheduling regular comprehensive assessments gives you and your hearing specialist the ability to properly evaluate hearing health and monitor any decline as it occurs.
Reducing the danger with hearing aids
Scientists presently believe that the link between dementia and hearing loss is largely based on the brain stress that hearing loss causes. So hearing aids should be able to reduce the risk, based on that fact. The stress on your brain will be reduced by using a hearing aid to filter out unwanted background noise while enhancing sounds you want to hear. With a hearing aid, the brain won’t work so hard to understand the sounds it’s getting.
There’s no rule that says people with normal hearing won’t develop dementia. But scientists believe hearing loss accelerates that decline. The key to decreasing that risk is regular hearing tests to diagnose and treat gradual hearing loss before it can have an affect on brain health.
Call us today to schedule an appointment for a hearing test if you’re concerned that you might be dealing with hearing loss.