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World Alzheimer’s Day: Dementia and hearing loss, what are the links?
World Alzheimer’s Day: Dementia and hearing loss, what are the links?
World Alzheimer’s Day, 2023
On Thursday 21st September 2023, we were busy raising awareness for World Alzheimer’s Day. World Alzheimer’s Day takes place every year to raise awareness and to challenge the stigma surrounding Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. It is also a day to show support for people living with dementia and their caregivers.
The theme for World Alzheimer’s Day 2023 was “Never too early, never too late”. This theme highlights the importance of early detection and intervention, as well as the importance of continuing to support people living with dementia at all stages of the disease. Here at Amplify Hearing, this year’s theme resonated strongly with our interest in the growing body of research surrounding hearing loss and dementia. We know that regular hearing tests, early intervention, and correctly fitted hearing aids may be beneficial for dementia prevention and intervention.
Hearing Loss and Dementia – What do we know so far?
In April, 2023, a research article appeared in The Lancet online[1], in which Doctor Jiang and other international research scientists presented an analysis of the association between hearing aid use and the risk of dementia among middle-aged and older-aged adults. The findings showed that those people who had hearing loss, but did not use hearing aids, had an increased risk of developing dementia. In fact, the research concluded that “up to 8% of dementia cases could be prevented with proper hearing loss management”.
There is clearly a link between Hearing Loss and Dementia. It is important to note that:
- Mild hearing loss doubles the risk of dementia.
- Moderate hearing loss triples the risk of dementia.
- Severe hearing loss increases the risk of dementia fivefold.
Hearing Loss and Dementia – What action can you take?
Having regular hearing tests is the first step to identifying hearing loss. This is particularly relevant to those aged 50 and over, so it’s no surprise that hearing tests are free of charge for over 50’s in the UK.
It is also imperative that you receive the very best independent audiology advice to ensure that you have most effective hearing aid solution for you.
Wearing your hearing aids consistently and ensuring they are optimised for all your daily living situations is another vital step to ensuring that the processing areas of your brain remain active. This will help to guard against dementia by stimulating the brain with the full range of sounds available. Hearing aids keep you engaged and able to participate in conversations effectively.
If you have or your loved one already has dementia, wearing hearing aids can help to alleviate some of the symptoms such as disorientation and confusion. This makes communication easier and contributes to better quality of life.
Find out more and book a hearing test
If you are interested in finding out more about hearing loss and dementia, or would like to book an appointment for a hearing test with your local independent audiologist, contact your local audiologist today.
[1] Jiang, F. et al. (2023) Association between hearing aid use and all-cause and cause-specific dementia: an analysis of UK Biobank cohort. The Lancet [Online] 8 (5), pp. 329-338.