Haims: Listen up and learn about preventative measures for dementia
For quite some time, researchers have believed that hearing loss may be associated with dementia. While the link between the two is not clearly understood, new research is gaining attention.
Recently, researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a research journal in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicating that people who have greater degrees of hearing loss are exponentially at greater risk for dementia.
Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D, director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and his colleagues have found that people who have “mild” hearing loss have twice the risk of developing dementia than those with no hearing impairment. Further, their finding indicates that people with “moderate”‘” hearing impairment may have triple the risk and, for those with “severe” hearing impairment, people may be at five times the risk of developing dementia.
In a recent article published in Scientific American, Anu Sharma, an auditory neuroscientist at the University of Colorado, explained that research has shown that adults who have mild hearing loss also have a decrease in gray matter. Dr. Lin’s research supports this premise and he states, “those with impaired hearing lost more than an additional cubic centimeter of brain tissue each year compared with those with normal hearing.”
The brain is a muscle and the less it is used, the more it stands to lose. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity, cognitive neuroscientist, Yune Lee, at the University of Texas at Dallas conducted a study that found that brain plasticity occurs as hearing loss occurs. In such cases of hearing loss, the brain adapts and changes both structurally and functionally.
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It is believed that with hearing loss, there is an extra mental burden placed on the brain. For example, in such situations where the brain is strained attempting to decipher conversations occurring with background noise and multiple speakers, the left hemisphere, which is the dominant side for processing language, diverts energy and starts using the right anterior prefrontal cortex. Thus, anatomical reductions in the left hemisphere occur.
While more research is needed, it is believed that as hearing loss lessens auditory stimulation and thus contributes to brain structural decline, hearing aids may prove to be beneficial.
Research is showing that for people with even mild or moderate hearing loss, hearing aids may assist in slowing the development of cognitive problems. Unfortunately, only about 1 in 5 people who would benefit from using hearing aids use them.
Hearing loss can lead to many unintended consequences. Outside of just being frustrating, hearing loss can cause depression and isolation. When a person experiencing hearing loss is frequently unable to understand what’s going on or continually asks people to repeat themselves and/or “speak up,” they may find that they choose to remove themselves from conversations. Such actions can lead to the avoidance of social engagement, and ultimately cause people to become depressed as they feel they are left out of conversations.
Fortunately, any social stigmas that once may have existed with wearing hearing aids have mostly disappeared. This may be due in part to both social acceptance and the technological advancements of wireless, Bluetooth and FM technologies.
Over the past couple of decades, hearing aids have become incredibly smaller. Further, across all age spectrums, almost everyone is used to seeing people with some type of audio device in or on people’s ears, such as earbuds, headphones or Bluetooth phone devices.
If you are one of the thousands of people asking friends and family to speak up, or find that you are telling people they are mumbling, perhaps you may want to consider that the issue is not theirs — it’s yours.
The most important thing you can do if you think you have a hearing problem is to go see a hearing health care professional.
Judson Haims is the owner of Visiting Angels Home Care in Eagle County. He is an advocate for our elderly and is available to answer questions.
