As we get older, certain sounds become more difficult to
hear. But, doctors say untreated hearing loss could put patients in risk for
serious health problems.
“You can lose and additional cubic sonometer of brain tissue
a year, if you have untreated hearing loss. That’s why it’s so important to
test for it,” says neurologist Dr. Fredrick Shaerf in an interview with Lee
Health.
According to experts, advanced hearing loss puts patients at
risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease that normally
starts slowly and deteriorates over time. It is the most common cause of
dementia, accounting for about 60-70% of all cases. While it starts out with
short-term memory loss, the disease progresses rapidly, rendering the inflicted
person unable to perform simple every tasks such as using the phone or tying
shoelaces.
“There is significant risk of developing a dementia if they
have untreated hearing loss; and those risks can be up to five times the risk
if you have severe hearing loss, three times moderate, twice mild. So, that’s a
significant risk with something that’s treatable,” Dr. Shaerf says.
In 2016, the Better Hearing Institute highlighted the
importance of hearing health to general cognitive function, due to a growing body
of study linking untreated hearing loss to memory loss and decreased cognitive
function.
Arthur Wingfield, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience at the Brandeis
University, has been studying intellectual aging and the association between
memory and hearing keenness for several years. He says that untreated hearing
loss makes the person to put more effort while listening, which can lead to
elevated stress and poorer results in memory tests.
Dr. Shaerf says that we don’t realize we have a hearing loss. |
Hearing loss can be treated with things like hearing aids. About one-third of people who are 65
years or old, have hearing loss, but about 15 percent wear hearing aids.
“Well, it seems to be a risk because the information is not
getting in. And therefore, in the speech and language centers, it’s not sort of
not getting the stimulation, and we know when nerves don’t get stimulated, they
shrink or atrophy,” Dr. Shaerf says.
He recommends that patients have their hearing and cognition
tests regularly.
“We also know that we don’t realize we have a hearing loss.
And most of us who develop it lose some of the high-pitched tones so we hear
the television when it’s up loud enough; we don’t think that there’s a problem,
when there really is,” says Dr. Shaerf.
Recognizing and treating hearing loss early can prevent
hearing loss problems, including the development of Alzheimer’s disease.