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Locally owned and located in Fayetteville, AR
HEARING LOSS & DEMENTIA
Hearing Loss & Dementia
Wolfpack Hearing Clinic in Fayetteville, AR
Recent research suggests that people who experience hearing loss may be at greater risk of developing memory problems and cognitive decline later in life. The study, which followed people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease over the course of four years, revealed that those who had been diagnosed with hearing loss were more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment as well.
The University of Wisconsin researchers carried out a series of cognitive tests over the four-year period, designed to probe the memory and mental processing skills of the participants. The participants were all deemed cognitively healthy at the start of the study, were in late middle age, and more than two-thirds had at least one parent with Alzheimer’s disease. At the end of the study, the team found that participants who had been diagnosed with hearing loss at the start were more than twice as likely to have mild cognitive impairment four years later.
Taylor Fields, the PhD student that led the research, said that his team’s findings suggest that hearing loss could be treated as a warning sign that someone may be at greater risk for future cognitive decline, though further research is necessary to fully understand the link.
Despite these recent findings, it’s important to note that research has not yet proven whether hearing loss is merely correlated with the changes associated with dementia, or if hearing loss itself causally contributes to cognitive problems. As such, further studies are needed to prove whether treatment for hearing loss would mitigate the risks.
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