New research is connecting seniors’ hearing loss with development of dementia, a finding that could lead to new ways to help stave off the memory decline.
The study by Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging didn't determine the cause of the link – perhaps there is a common pathology or the risk increases as the strain of decoding sounds overwhelms the brains of people with hearing loss or as those who can't hear become more socially isolated.
The finding could help determine or push interventions, such as hearing aids.
"Researchers have looked at what affects hearing loss, but few have looked at how hearing loss affects cognitive brain function," study leader Dr. Frank Lin, assistant professor in Hopkins' Division of Otology, said in a statement.
"There hasn't been much crosstalk between otologists and geriatricians, so it's been unclear whether hearing loss and dementia are related."
For the study, published in the February Archives of Neurology, the researchers used data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging, which was initiated by the National Institute on Aging in 1958 to track various health factors over time.
They focused on 639 people whose cognitive abilities were tested between 1990 and 1994 and again every one to two years until 2008. Those with the most hearing loss had the highest likelihood of developing dementia.
Baltimore Sun file photo of a hearing aid/Lloyd Fox