Hearing loss and Cognitive Decline

Recently there has been more and more coverage in the media suggesting a link between hearing loss, cognitive decline and possibly dementia. Some hearing aid companies have promoted their hearing aids will prevent dementia based on this claim. This leads to some of us believing that if you don’t get hearing aids, you will end up with dementia. While we do not want people to feel under pressure to wear hearing aids and the decision to go ahead with hearing aid fitting is completely your own, we have done our own investigation into the latest information on this topic. 

In a study published in The Lancet called 'Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission', they concluded that hearing aid use was the largest factor protecting cognitive decline. While hearing loss is not the only risk factor for onset of dementia it is a modifiable risk factor which can be helped with well fitted hearing aids.

In addition, there have been more studies reporting increased dementia in people with hearing loss except in those using hearing aids. If we add to that the additional benefits hearing aids can give to the overall quality of life, it is certainly of benefit to consider hearing aids as soon as an aidable hearing loss is detected.