The effect of hearing aids on cognition

Hearing aids that restore hearing abilities can help slow down the process of cognitive decline by improving access to speech and environmental sounds, allowing the brain to correlate what a person hears. The hearing aids help to hear the signal that the brain then interprets to understand the meaning of what is being said, reducing the mental load of listening for the brain. To fulfill this complex task, a hearing aid has three main components that work together to help patients to hear better:

• A microphone which picks up the sound around the user.

• An amplifier which makes the sound louder.

• A receiver that sends the amplified sounds into the user’s ear.

By increasing aural input and clarity of sound, hearing aids enable an enriched cognitive experience, stimulating the brain. Improved hearing can also foster social participation, encouraging individuals to engage in conversations. In recent years research has shown that hearing aids broadly improve social interaction³ and have positive effects in terms of an increased level of social activity.⁴⁵ Social activity in turn has been shown to be important for successful aging in general⁶ as well as for cognitive health in particular.⁷

References:

3 Paluch, R., Latzel, M., & Meis, M. (2015). A new tool for subjective assessment of hearing aid performance: Analyses of Interpersonal Communication. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 5(0), 453-460. https://www.proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2015-54

4 Sawyer, C. S., Armitage, C. J., Munro, K. J., Singh, G., & Dawes, P. D. (2019). Correlates of Hearing Aid Use in UK Adults: Self-Reported Hearing Difficulties, Social Participation, Living Situation, Health, and Demographics. Ear and Hearing, 40(5), 1061-1068. https://doi.org/10.1097/aud.0000000000000695

5 Holman et al., (2021). Hearing aids reduce daily-life fatigue and increase social activity: a longitudinal study. Trends in Hearing, 25, 23312165211052786.

6 Ho, M., Pullenayegum, E., & Fuller-Thomson, E. (2023). Is Social Participation Associated with Successful Aging among Older Canadians? Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20126058

7 Lin, F. R., Pike, J. R., Albert, M. S., Arnold, M., Burgard, S., Chisolm, T., Couper, D., Deal, J. A., Goman, A. M., Glynn, N. W., Gmelin, T., Gravens-Mueller, L., Hayden, K. M., Huang, A. R., Knopman, D., Mitchell, C. M., Mosley, T., Pankow, J. S., Reed, N. S., Sanchez, V., … ACHIEVE Collaborative Research Group (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. Lancet (London, England), 402(10404), 786–797. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01406-X