Hearing aids may reduce risk of dementia, new study finds

Dementia affects approximately 6.7 million people in the United States, according to a 2023 report published by the Alzheimer Association. Doctors and scientists have spent years researching the origins of the disease and ways to slow its progression.

In 2019, Johns Hopkins launched a study to examine the link between dementia and hearing loss, a link that doctors have noticed in many of their patients with both conditions, and whether hearing aids could help these patients slow down the cognitive decline. This randomized study involved more than 3,000 people, who were either assigned to a control group that received chronic disease prevention counseling or a group that received hearing aids and treatment by an audiologist. They studied the groups every six months, then gave them a neuro-cognitive test after three years.

The results of this study, published this week in The Lancet medical journal, show a possible link between the use of hearing aids and the reduction of cognitive decline in patients most at risk. Overall, the researchers found no difference for the group that received the hearing intervention as a whole. However, in the oldest subgroup, who had lower baseline cognitive scores and were most at risk, hearing aids slowed the rate of cognitive deterioration by 48%.

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But how are dementia and hearing loss related?

During interview with CNNDr. Frank Lin, lead author of the study and a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, discussed the possible physical and mental impacts of hearing loss on the brain.

First, he said that when a person has difficulty hearing, the brain has to work harder and may have to redistribute its “power” to understand what is being said. This overcompensation can lead to a decrease in the overall ability to function well. Lin said more studies need to be done on the possible physical impact of hearing loss on the brain, including possible deterioration and shrinkage.

However, Lin also believes that hearing loss often leads to isolation as patients avoid socializing, which leads to complications for those at risk of dementia.

“For many, many years now, we have understood that social isolation and loneliness probably directly affect our dementia risk of cognitive decline, primarily through the loss of cognitively stimulating activities, but also simply through a loss of ‘engagement with the world around us as we become…sometimes more pigeonholed at home,’ Lin told NPR in a August 2022 interview.

Withover-the-counter hearing aids available in the United States since October 2022 and hopefully more studies underway, Lin and other scientific peers hope that easier access to devices and more studies will open a clear path to help people at high risk of dementia to slow the progression of the disease.

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