Hearing is a skill that most of us take for granted. However, research suggests that adults should pay attention to changes in their hearing, as hearing loss can lead to dementia later in life.
A 2021 study of more than 80,000 adults aged 60 and older found that people who have difficulty hearing speech in noisy environments were at higher risk of developing dementia. Dementia is a group of conditions characterized by memory loss and difficulties with language and other thinking skills.
But there are positives too. This study adds to the evidence suggesting that hearing loss is not just a symptom of dementia, but may actually be a risk factor for the disease, and suggests that hearing loss may not be just a symptom of dementia, but may actually be a risk factor for the disease, and can help people, their families, or doctors diagnose dementia before it starts to worsen. It may be possible to warn of the onset of
“There is particular interest in hearing loss and whether it increases the risk of dementia,” study author Thomas Littlejohns, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, said in July 2021.
“Although preliminary, these results suggest that speech-in-noise hearing impairment may be a promising target for dementia prevention.”
In 2017, hearing loss was listed as one of the nine main modifiable risk factors for dementia, along with smoking and physical inactivity. That landmark Lancet report was soon updated in 2020, adding three more risk factors, bringing the total to 12. In 2024, the third update to the Lancet report added two more, bringing the total to 14 new modifiable risk factors.
The keywords here can be changed. These risk factors are elements of our lifestyle and general health that can be improved and, if they are, our overall health will improve and the likelihood of a health condition may decrease.
These Lancet reports estimate that among the risk factors for dementia, hearing loss may be the most burdensome, with people who do not address their hearing loss in middle age more likely to develop dementia. up to 5 times more likely to
To investigate this, researchers at the University of Oxford who worked on the study used a research database set up to uncover links between genetics, environmental factors and health outcomes across large parts of the UK population. We used the UK Biobank.
Dementia risk was analyzed in more than 82,000 men and women aged 60 and older who did not have dementia and had their hearing evaluated at the start of the study.
Participants were tested for their hearing in noise. This is the ability to hear snippets of audio in a noisy environment. In this case, it recognizes numbers spoken against a white background noise.
Some 11 years later, 1,285 participants were found to have developed dementia, according to their health records.
“Participants with poor hearing had almost twice the risk of developing dementia compared to participants with good hearing,” Littlejohns said.
Interestingly, about half of the people studied who had poor speech-in-noise hearing and about 42 percent of those who performed poorly on tests were self-reporting when asked to report. I wasn’t aware of my hearing loss.
The researchers also considered whether people’s hearing loss was actually associated with other factors known to influence dementia risk, such as social isolation and depression. Both of these factors can occur when people have hearing loss.
“But we found little evidence that this was the case,” Littlejohns said.
Just to be sure, Littlejohns and his colleagues also compared their data to see if people’s hearing abilities were actually affected by latent, undetected dementia, so-called reverse causation.
However, the risk of dementia indicated by hearing loss was no worse when comparing study participants who developed dementia earlier (after 3 years) than later (after 9 years). It remained almost the same.
Although this is not the first study to find a link between hearing loss and dementia, the research team is the first to examine the risk of dementia and people’s hearing in typical noisy environments of our daily lives. He said that it is one of the
Similarly, large, long-term studies conducted in Australia and Taiwan also found that people with hearing loss were at increased risk of dementia. However, these studies relied on self-reported data from study participants or medical records indicating hearing loss.
Katie Stubbs, a neuroscientist at the research charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, said of the Oxford University study: “Large studies like the UK Biobank are helping to understand the genetic, health and lifestyle factors associated with conditions such as dementia. “It’s a powerful tool for identifying style factors.” “But it’s always difficult to distinguish cause and effect in this type of research.”
Remember that the best epidemiological studies can do is find associations between environmental factors, health, and disease at the population level.
“It is important to keep in mind that with this type of study design, causal relationships cannot be inferred. However, this suggests that hearing loss could be a modifiable target for reducing the risk of developing dementia. “It adds to the existing literature,” Littlejohns said.
Remember, this study shows that protecting your ears from hearing loss with earmuffs and earplugs, and improving your hearing with hearing aids, may be a potential cause of dementia, which affects millions of people around the world. This suggests that it may help reduce risk factors.
There were too few people using hearing aids in this particular study to reach a firm conclusion yet, so clinical trials are needed to find out more. However, this is an area of research that may offer hope for understanding and preventing dementia.
The study was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
A version of this article was first published in July 2021.
