What untreated hearing loss can have to do with Alzheimer's disease

What is Alzheimer's?

Alzheimer's disease - also known as "Alzheimer's dementia" or "Alzheimer's disease" - is the most common form of dementia, accounting for around two thirds of cases, and is an incurable disorder of the brain. Due to the death of nerve cells, people with Alzheimer's become increasingly forgetful, disoriented and confused. Inseparably linked to this is a change in personality and behavior. Many sufferers become depressed or aggressive. Ultimately, judgment and the ability to speak deteriorate.

This disease cannot be stopped, but there are treatment options to mitigate its progression. One of these is good hearing care.

Change comes with age

We all want to live a long life. Of course, this includes ageing as well as the associated changes: less muscle strength, declining concentration, weaker eyesight and reduced hearing.

Link between age-related hearing loss and Alzheimer's disease

One in three older people is affected by age-related hearing loss. That's around 300 million people worldwide. At the same time, over 50 million people over the age of 65 are diagnosed with some form of dementia. Experts see a connection and want to work on prevention and treatment options.

Multiple interactions

It is not only the function of the ear that is responsible for understanding speech, but also the adequate processing of signals in the auditory cortex, the hearing center of the cerebral cortex. Reduced cognitive abilities can also affect speech comprehension in everyday life.

The interaction of these processes has not yet been sufficiently proven, but it has been shown that hearing loss is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Conversely, everyone needs cognitive performance in order to understand what they hear. Hearing impaired people have to perform additional thinking in everyday life in order to cognitively supplement what they have not understood auditorily. Cognitive impairments therefore have a direct impact on speech comprehension.

In addition to an increased risk of Alzheimer's, social isolation and depression (often due to a lack of communication) are also possible consequences of severe hearing problems. Both are considered to be further possible triggers for Alzheimer's. On the other hand, social engagement is considered to prevent dementia, for which good hearing could in turn play a role.

Reducing the risk of Alzheimer's with hearing aids

A new long-term study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, found that hearing loss is the largest preventable risk factor for the various forms of dementia, accounting for 25 percent. Another study shows that test subjects with mild hearing loss are 30 percent more likely to develop dementia than those with normal hearing. The more severe the hearing loss, the greater the risk of developing a form of dementia.

Researchers predict: If hearing loss could be completely prevented, significantly fewer cases of dementia would occur each year!

Hearing aids or cochlear implants, especially for patients with advanced hearing loss, can therefore make an important contribution against Alzheimer's and any other form of dementia, according to experts. They can be a reason to stay mentally fit and therefore healthier longer, even in older age.

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