An important change can increase your risk of dementia

You probably don’t think about it. But your ears are constantly bombarded with sound waves hitting the eardrum, which sends them to the cochlea, where tiny sensory hairs finally send signals to the brain about sounds.

Like anything else in your body, your sense of hearing is a complex process that requires advanced interaction between the brain and its many tiny, tiny parts. And while most of us might take the sense of hearing for granted, so Several recent studies show That you have good reason to pay extra attention to changes in your hearing – both in yourself and in others.

According to researchers, there may be a link between hearing loss in adulthood and an increased risk of dementia later on. This explains Asmus Vogel, a neuropsychologist at the National Dementia Knowledge Center in Denmark.

“There have been several large English studies on the greatest risk factors for dementia, and they have stated that hearing is the largest modifiable risk factor,” he explains.

double the danger

One of the main studies was published in The scientific journal of the Alzheimer’s Association In July last year. The study, conducted by researchers at Oxford University, among others, included up to 82,039 people over the age of 60 from a large medical database called the British Biobank.

The participants took a test that examined their ability to pick up small parts of speech in a noisy environment. The researchers found that participants with low hearing were nearly twice as likely to develop dementia later in life, compared to participants with normal hearing.

The researchers also looked at whether the increased risk of dementia was caused by other factors, such as social isolation and depression as a result of hearing loss. But they found only limited evidence of this.

Avoid the biggest risk factors

The researchers behind the study stress that it is not possible to explain a direct causal relationship, but the finding is in line with many other studies.

Among other things, a report from the recognized scientific journal The Lancet, which as early as 2017 reported hearing impairment One of the nine major preventable risk factors for dementia. Subsequently, three newly discovered risk factors were added, so that the list now includes a total of twelve major risk factors.

Researchers still haven’t found the cause. But neuropsychologist Asmus Vogel has several possible explanations.

“One reason may be that the processes that break down the brain, through dementia, for example, Alzheimer’s disease, also affect hearing,” he explains.

“Another mechanism could be that because of your hearing loss, you have to strain yourself to accept the outside world – as if you have low vision and don’t use glasses. And that potentially leads to brain wear,” he says.

Tell others about it

Asmus Vogel stresses that no study has yet been conducted that shows that we can avoid cognitive impairment and dementia, for example, by giving general hearing aids.

But according to him, studies in recent years are an important reminder to pay attention to small changes in ourselves and others, because dementia and cognitive decline cannot be cured.

Therefore, it is important to prevent and slow the development, for example, to seek help to check one’s hearing and make sure that the hearing aids are set correctly.

“It’s important to educate people if you think they are not hearing well enough, because hearing loss often you can get used to in yourself over time. But in the end, it can have an effect on brain function,” he says.