Improving Your Hearing May Improve Your Brain Health

Hearing loss can be frustrating and stressful. It can also have long-term health effects, including a higher risk of dementia.

Research by Frank Lin, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, has shown a direct relationship between the severity of hearing loss and the risk of dementia. He also led research showing that dementia progresses faster in people with hearing loss.

Can treating hearing loss with hearing aids lower the risk or slow the progression of dementia? That crucial question has implications for millions of Americans and their families. About 1 in 3 U.S. adults ages 65 to 74 have hearing loss. Among people older than 75, that number rises to 1 in 2, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Two recent studies suggest hearing aids may make a difference. In the first large-scale, randomized controlled trial on the use of hearing aids and brain function, known as ACHIEVE for Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders, Lin and colleagues tracked nearly 1,000 adults ages 70 to 84 with hearing loss. Half the group received hearing aids; the other half received advice on healthy aging. For three years, all participants were tested regularly on their thinking and memory, as reported in 2023 in The Lancet.

Find out how listening to music is a vital tool for a healthy mind.

But breaking down the data told a different story. “We recruited … from two distinct study populations,” Lin said, and the two groups had dramatically different outcomes.

About three-quarters of participants were volunteers who had responded to ads for a new study on healthy aging. For this group, the use of hearing aids didn’t make a measurable difference. These participants were exceptionally healthy — with lower-than-average dementia risk. During the study, their cognitive decline was minimal and progressed at a snail’s pace. It’s hard to “slow down something that’s already going down very, very slowly — at least within three years,” Lin said.

The second group in the study was recruited from a long-running heart-health study called ARIC for Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, which was drawn from a random sample of U.S. adults. For this group, which was older and had more dementia risk factors than the healthy volunteer group, the use of hearing aids slashed the speed of cognitive decline by 48 percent compared with a control group. Given that this group was a random sample of adults, these results are promising for the general population.

“There are plenty of 75-year-olds with untreated hearing loss,” Lin said. The possibility that hearing aids, which are very safe, could lower their risk of cognitive decline “is incredibly appealing.”

Find out more about hearing and brain health in the full article, Why Helping Your Hearing May Help Support Your Brain.

_{This content is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide any expert, professional or specialty advice or recommendations. Readers are urged to consult with their medical providers for all questions.}