The 2024 update of the Lancet Commission on dementia has revealed even stronger links between hearing loss and dementia, emphasizing how using hearing aids can reduce cognitive decline risk factors.
The updated report outlines the many risk factors for dementia and has provided illuminating evidence on the relationship between unaddressed hearing loss and increased dementia risk. Now more than ever, hearing loss is not just a matter of inconvenience; it’s a key factor that helps determine long-term mental and physical health.
The in-depth study suggests that the risk for dementia significantly decreases when people in their 40s and 50s start getting hearing checked and use hearing aids to address any loss. Without testing or hearing aids, the risk of dementia increases. What’s more, the study reveals that dementia risk is ‘‘dose dependent”; 10 decibels of hearing loss equates to a 16% increase in risk of increasing dementia or Alzheimer’s onset. Essentially, the more severe the hearing loss, the greater the risk of these conditions. This is in direct opposition to the general stigma that hearing tests are for later-in-life. Yearly testing, at midlife, is important for early identification of hearing loss.
With Alzheimer’s Awareness Month underway, this is an ideal opportunity to learn more about the relationship between hearing loss and to get your hearing tested – regardless of your age. The findings in this study emphasize that we can’t put hearing health on the back burner any longer. But how do we grapple with the idea of addressing our hearing loss earlier than we anticipated?
Understanding that Hearing Health is Mental Health
Most people don’t think of hearing loss as something that’s necessarily important to treat. But in my experience as an audiologist at HearUSA, I’ve noticed that new clients often don’t realize the extent to which their hearing loss is already affecting their quality of life.
One of the first signs of hearing loss you may experience – consciously or subconsciously – is cognitive decline. Are you withdrawing from these social situations? Do you feel frustrated when trying to listen?
Sometimes, it’s a matter of understanding sound more than the volume of sound. I tell clients that the sound might not be different to you, but your ability to understand speech may be. This is a key difference that isn’t always obvious – but it’s important. When you can’t understand friends or family, it leads to social isolation and depression. Then, your cognitive functions could rapidly decline from there. The earlier you get tested, the sooner you can help avoid the trickle down effects of mental deterioration – and of course, decrease your dementia risk.
A Minor Lifestyle Adjustment Can Yield Major Health Benefits
Should you get tested and confirmed for hearing loss, hearing aids are a relatively simple lifestyle adjustment to combat the threat of mental deterioration, social isolation, and significant dementia risk. When compared against diseases such as diabetes or lung cancer, it’s a significant undertaking for many people to change their diets on a daily basis or beat an addiction to smoking to avoid them. But when it comes to hearing aids, it is a quick lifestyle change.
With ongoing technological improvements, they’re no longer our grandparents’ hearing aids that whine and chirp; sound quality is better than ever, they’re very cosmetically appealing, and they have robust features. In fact, hearing aids are getting smaller, smarter, and faster every single year.
Additionally, today’s hearing aids can be digitally adjusted so we can get a more precise adjustment that customizes sound for each wearer. Plus, they’re equipped with cutting-edge capabilities like Bluetooth, so you can access audio of phone calls, music and more, directly from your mobile device.
Preserving Health Long-Term
Often, when clients are not willing to pursue hearing aids at the time of identification, I ask them to assess how often they are asking for repetition in conversation, avoid places they cannot hear well, and how often they feel left out of family/social events. Usually, patients will return noting that they are isolating socially, noticing the signs and willing to make a lifestyle change. Evidence is increasing – and is now stronger than before – that tackling the hearing loss risk factor directly reduces the risk of developing dementia.
HearUSA centers across the country offer complimentary hearing screening, so the time to get tested is now!
