The Hidden Link Between Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline
A 25 year-long French study in the Journals of Gerontology demonstrated an increase in the cases of disabilities, dementia, and depression among elderly men as hearing loss continued to increase, supporting the research of Dr. Lin.
How hearing loss connects to increasing your risk for developing dementia and early cognitive decline is complex, but the link is the cause of concern for our doctors of audiology.
In our efforts to help you and your family live a more independent and richer lifestyle through better hearing, you can take advantage of our advanced diagnostic technology to measure how your hearing loss challenges might be affecting your cognitive health.
We utilize a breakthrough technology known as Cognivue Screening in order to enhance the level of custom hearing care we are able to provide.
Common Risk Factors
Hearing loss often accompanies other negative health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes, which also tend to place individuals with those conditions at greater risk for decreased cognitive health. The link between the two is probably the narrowing of blood vessels, common in these conditions, which also occurs in the network of small blood vessels that feed the cochlea that sometimes contribute to hearing loss.
Mental Overload
Structural Changes
Social Isolation
Four Ways Hearing Loss and
Cognitive Decline Are Linked
The American Academy of Neurology describes four different ways hearing loss and cognitive decline are linked.
What Cognitive Screening Results Show
Each of the five scores provided in the results of cognitive testing has a direct audiological connection.
Memory Score
Your ability to sort out complex sentences, follow abstract thoughts, and comprehend speech in a degraded sound environment, as well as the capacity to retain information while processing the same or new information at the same time, is reflected in your memory score.
