The ears and the brain are equal partners

While the ears pick up auditory signals, the brain gives meaning to the puzzle of sounds.

Hearing loss means...¹

• Pieces of the puzzle are missing or blurred, increasing cognitive load to decipher the message.

• It becomes more difficult to focus on the speaker.

• The individual is more likely to disengage from their surroundings.

• Hearing loss has been identified as the largest modifiable risk factor for dementia, contributing 8% to the overall risk of developing age-related dementia.²

• Social isolation and loneliness due to hearing loss can have important implications for psychosocial and cognitive health.³

The effect of untreated hearing loss on social withdrawal and isolation should not be underestimated especially as 65% of people over the age of 60 have some degree of hearing loss.¹

The benefit of hearing intervention on healthy ageing.

Latest study results have shown:

• In older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline, hearing intervention slowed down loss of thinking and memory abilities by 48% over 3 years.⁴

• Individuals in the hearing aid treatment group maintained their cognitive abilities over three years, whereas the participants without hearing intervention showed a decline in cognition over the same time.⁵

• People with hearing loss who do not wear hearing solutions have a higher risk to develop dementia compared to people with good hearing. When the hearing loss is managed, the risk in the group of people with hearing loss is comparable to those with good hearing.⁶

Timely identification and management of hearing loss is strongly recommended.¹

1. Untreated age-related hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline. The risk of dementia increases with the degree of hearing loss.7 Hearing loss results in reduced communication capability, drives social isolation, and affects cognitive abilities.

2. Comprehensive hearing care including the fitting of hearing aids, can mitigate the risk of cognitive decline in adults with hearing impairment.⁴⁵⁶

3. Hearing intervention is the treatment of choice to manage hearing loss. The latest evidence speaks for early identification and management of hearing loss.¹ Corrected hearing loss fosters participation in conversations & social engagement, reduces the cognitive load of processing degraded sound, and provides increased brain stimulation.

References: 

1 World Health Organization. (2021). World report on hearing. Geneva: World Health Organization. Retrieved March 8th, 2021. from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/world-report-on-hearing.

2 Livingston, G., Huntley, J., Sommerlad, A., Ames, D., Ballard, C., Banerjee, S., . . . Mukadam, N. (2020). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission. The Lancet (London, England), 396(10248), 413-446. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30367-6 .

3 Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). (2018). Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Seattle, WA: IHME. http://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/policy_report/2019/GBD_2017_Booklet.pdf.

4 Lin, Frank R et al. (2023). Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. https:/ doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01406-X.

5 Sarant, J., et al. (2023 July 16-20). Cognitive Function in Older Adults with Hearing Loss: Outcomes for treated vs untreated groups at 3-year follow-up [Conference poster]. AAIC 2023 Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

6 Yeo, B. S. Y., Song, H. J. J. M. D., Toh, E. M. S., Ng, L. S., Ho, C. S. H., Ho, R., Merchant, R. A., Tan, B. K. J., & Loh, W. S. (2023). Association of Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants With Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA neurology, 80(2), 134–141. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.4427

7 Lin, F. R., Metter, E. J., O‘Brien, R. J., Resnick, S. M., Zonderman, A. B., & Ferrucci, L. (2011). Hearing loss and incident dementia. Archives of neurology, 68, 214-220. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2010.362