Adults with hearing loss are not hearing certain frequencies, which leads to a lack of stimulus to the brain. (Photo: Adobe Stock)
Hearing loss has long been considered a normal and acceptable part of aging. After all, nearly one in three Americans between the ages of 65 and 74, and almost half of people over the age of 75, have difficulty hearing, according to the National Institute on Aging.
It is also rarely treated. In the United States, though some 28.8 million Americans could benefit from wearing hearing aids, only about 15% of adults use them, according to Healthy Hearing, an online platform information source on hearing loss and hearing aids.
“Once you have hearing loss, so many people wait before they get it treated, or don’t treat it at all,” says Dr. Rich Panelli, an audiologist at Nevada ENT and Hearing Associates in Reno.
Older adults often cite price as the barrier to purchasing hearing aids, which can range from $1,000 to $4,000 per device (per ear), Healthy Hearing reports.
But the impact of untreated hearing loss could be much greater.
An emerging body of research suggests that diminished hearing may be a significant risk factor for Alzheirmer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Moreover, the association between hearing loss and cognitive decline potentially begins at very low levels of impairment.
A 2011 study by John Hopkins School of Medicine and NIA, which tracked 639 adults for nearly 12 years, found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk. Moderate loss tripled risk, and people with a severe hearing impairment were five times more likely to develop dementia.
In other words, the greater the hearing deficit, the greater the risk a person will develop the condition.
“They looked at functional MRIs and the ones who had hearing loss had a significantly increased rate of brain atrophy,” said Panelli, noting that people who can’t hear well tend to be less likely to go out and engage with others socially, another known risk factor for dementia. “Their study said some likely reasons were that those people were more isolated. And when you’re isolated, it’s kind of a use it or lose it thing. And when they were in conversation, it took an increased effort, which they linked to some of the brain atrophy.”
In addition, Panelli said adults with hearing loss are not hearing certain frequencies, which leads to a lack of stimulus to the brain.
Which begs the question: Can hearing aids help prevent dementia?
The John Hopkins study does not suggest that Alzheimer’s disease can be stopped with hearing aids. But treating impaired hearing has the potential to decrease the number of people living with the disease.
The NIA is currently funding the first randomized control trial to see whether older adults who get hearing aids (compared with those who participate in a program to manage nutrition, diet and exercise) are less likely to develop dementia.
To that end, Panelli said perhaps we should be working harder to respond to hearing loss earlier. According to John Hopkins, hearing aid users wait, on average, 10 years before getting help for hearing loss. During that time, communication with loved ones becomes more difficult, and isolation and health risks increase.
“If we can aid them at an earlier age and get hearing aids on them that can bring those sounds back that they’re missing, then we can get these sounds back to the brain and back to the nerve,” he explained. “As long as those areas are stimulated, then that’s a way of looking at prevention. Where before, they would kind of treat it as it happened with things like dementia. Maybe we can prevent some of these things before they happen.
“And maybe if we’re able to help them earlier, then they’re able to interact socially and it helps avoid isolation.”
Panelli said many people have likely already suffered hearing loss without even knowing it. While it may sound obvious, he said avoiding loud sounds is the biggest way to prevent hearing loss. If loud noises are unavoidable, wear ear protection, such as earplugs and noise cancelling headphones, he said.
“If you leave a music concert or a club and your ears are ringing, you’ve already done some permanent damage to your ears,” he said. “Even though that subsides and comes back, those little hair cells get knocked down and eventually they don't pop back up. So, always remember — if you're going to be around noise, wear ear protection.”
FAST FACTS
Below are five stats about hearing from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders:
• Roughly 15% of American adults (37.5 million) aged 18 and over report some trouble hearing.
• Men are almost twice as likely as women to have hearing loss among adults aged 20-69.
• About 18 percent of adults aged 20-69 have speech-frequency hearing loss in both ears from among those who report 5 or more years of exposure to very loud noise at work.
• Non-Hispanic white adults are more likely than adults in other racial/ethnic groups to have hearing loss; non-Hispanic black adults have the lowest prevalence of hearing loss among adults aged 20-69.
• Among adults aged 70 and older with hearing loss who could benefit from hearing aids, fewer than 1 in 3 (30 percent) has ever used them. That stat is even lower for adults aged 20 to 69 (16 percent).
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