A: It is not the hearing loss itself that increases the risk of dementia, but rather when the hearing loss is not addressed and corrected the risk of dementia goes up. In fact, it was recently found that vision loss also increases the risk for dementia.
Both hearing and vision loss are sensory impairments and, when not corrected, they are shown to increase a person’s risk of developing dementia. This is not surprising when you think about it, because we know that challenging and using your brain is a protective factor. When we allow our senses to lesson without addressing this change, we allow our brain to take in less and less information to process. You are, therefore, no longer using your brain and challenging yourself to your full ability.
I think about my father-in-law who developed hearing loss but refused to wear his hearing aids. He would make jokes that he did not need to hear any of us anyway. While he would joke about this, it was clear he was not following our conversations. He would repeat the same phrases or stories without participating in the back-and-forth conversations at the table. He had essentially “checked out” from doing the cognitive work of following the discussion.
Unfortunately, he did develop dementia, and it was hard to notice at first because he had already been unable to respond properly to our questions.
When you stop using all your senses to their fullest and take in less information, you are at risk for atrophy of the brain. Vision loss has recently been found to have a similar effect. It is shown that if you do not correct your vision loss with treatment, contacts or glasses, your risk for dementia increases.
In fact, one study found that of people aged 65 and older who had cataract surgery to correct their vision, they had a 30 percent lower risk of developing dementia than those who did not have the surgery.
We also know that social isolation is a risk factor for dementia. People who have reduced hearing and/or vision tend to withdraw socially. I certainly saw this with my father-in-law. Social situations were no longer fun for him since he could not follow along. He stopped attending the social groups that he had once enjoyed.
I recently noticed my mother was having trouble with her hearing. I encouraged her to schedule a hearing test. I tried not to scare her with these statistics on dementia, but I wanted to be sure she understood how important it is to address her hearing loss. Thankfully she was willing because she was having trouble hearing her grandchildren. She felt that was reason enough to get tested to see if she needs hearing aids.
It is important that we all stay on top of our health and make sure we are following up as needed on any changes to our senses. Finding ways to continue to stay involved and engaged as we age is so important. Make sure you are doing what you can to prevent any hearing or vision loss from getting in the way of healthy aging.
Martha Shapiro can be reached at Senior Concerns at 805-497-0189 or by email at mshapiro@seniorconcerns.org.
