How Can Untreated Hearing Loss Lead to Dementia

There have been numerous studies conducted over the years to prove that there is a link between dementia and hearing loss. This has now been confirmed, and so if you’re not hearing as well as you are used to and you are of an advanced age, it would be in your best interest to keep up your appointments with your hearing care professional. Hearing loss is not a joke. It’s scary, isolating and it can lead to a lot of confusion and worry. You could prevent hearing loss from becoming an issue by getting a hearing test on time every time. The research has shown that the longer you wait to seek the correct hearing loss treatment, the more likely it is that your brain will stop being able to interpret sound. When hearing loss occurs, the brain stops retaining information, leading to memory loss and stress. The memory loss happens because the brain shrinks down when not in use, and what you cannot hear, you cannot retain.

How is dementia involved?

The auditory deprivation and social isolation that individuals with untreated hearing loss experience can lead to the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Both of these conditions are popularly known for deteriorating the brain function. Dementia is a condition that leads to the deterioration of the standard mental functions. These include:

• The ability to think concisely and clearly.
• The ability to concentrate properly.
• Being able to reason with others.
• Remembering facts and information

Health professionals in the field have determined that even though our ears process and collect sounds, it’s the brain that interprets those sounds and decide what it is that we hear. The tiny hair cells in the inner ear are affected with hearing loss, which prevents sound from being transmitted properly to the brain. As your hearing gets worse, your brain no longer processes those sounds and eventually, it forgets how to understand speech.

Emotional consequences

Researchers have found that hearing loss can complicate dementia further. It’s associated with social isolation, stress and depression, because once you lose your hearing, you cannot retain the information from basic conversations and you cannot hear those conversations, either. This puts you into a state where you aren’t able to communicate, leaving you in a world of silence. This silence can be scary, and when you haven’t got the right hearing support, you can’t come out of it. A test with your hearing care professional is an essential here because the right hearing aids can support your hearing and make it so that you no longer have to feel left out of the conversations that you can see occurring but couldn’t join in with. Hearing loss isn’t something to let go of. If you are hearing impaired and over 60, you have more of a chance of developing dementia – not something that you want to happen. Prevent it now, or at least slow down the onset and you can live a healthier life.