Could hearing loss be linked to dementia?

A growing number of people depend on hearing aids and cochlear implants to hear.

Losing your hearing is bad enough.

It means struggling to hear what a co-worker is saying to you. Trying to chat at a dinner party when you can barely follow the conversation. Not being able to enjoy music the way you once did.

But new research suggests that hearing loss may also mean greater risk of dementia.

A team of researchers from John Hopkins published a paper in The Archives of Neurology in 2011 that showed a strong association between the two conditions. The researchers examined data from 639 subjects who were followed for 18 years as part of a long term study of aging.

None of the subjects had cognitive impairment starting out, though some had hearing loss.

“Compared to individuals with normal hearing, those individuals with a mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss, respectively, had a 2-, 3- and 5-fold increased risk of developing dementia over the course of the study,” Dr. Frank Lin, one of the study’s authors, told the New York Times.

The results held even when other factors usually associated with dementia—like age, diabetes and hypertension—were ruled out.

It’s not yet clear why hearing loss and dementia are connected. One theory is the “cognitive load” that hearing loss puts on the brain. In other words, the brain has to do so much extra work translating sound into words that it is detrimental in the long term.

A second theory argues that hearing loss leads to social isolation, another predictor of dementia. Researchers have also not ruled a pathological process that causes both hearing loss and dementia.

Hearing loss is a growing concern for Canadians. The Hearing Foundation of Canada says hearing loss is the fastest growing chronic condition facing Canadians today.

According to Statistics Canada, more than one million adults in the country reported having a hearing-related disability in 2002. That’s 50 percent more than reported problems with their eyesight. The increase is largely due to an increase in hearing problems as a result of higher noise levels.

But despite the dangers of hearing loss, many people don’t realize what it’s really like. It’s not that everything just gets quieter. Listen to this link  to hear some examples:

What does hearing loss sound like?