Studies have long linked hearing loss to dementia. One Johns Hopkins study concluded that people with hearing loss are up to five times more at risk for developing dementia than peers with normal hearing.
Researchers confess the science is not definitive on exactly why hearing loss increases dementia risk, but they agree on three probable reasons, all of which are contributing factors to dementia:
- Hearing loss leads to social isolation and loneliness — Social isolation has been associated with a 50 percent increased risk of dementia.
- Hearing loss shifts the cognitive load of the brain — The brain spends too much energy trying to process what it’s hearing, leaving it less energy to spend on thinking and memory.
- Hearing loss accelerates brain atrophy — While all brains shrink as we age, in studies, people with impaired hearing had “accelerated rates of brain atrophy.”
