Q: I have a parent in a nursing home suffering from dementia. I heard somewhere that using a hearing can slow the progress, is this true?
A: In 1989 a group of 5 physicians underwent a study that correlated hearing loss to various forms of dementia, (Uhlmann, R. F. Et. Al., 1989), and published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA). The research looked at 100 people from various states who all had very similar forms of dementia from a variety of causes, including those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Each of the subjects had some form of hearing loss, and while they were not all the same, they were all within the same bracket, and compared them to a control group of the same number, age and education level. The amount of hearing loss was recorded and using several test for cognitive function, they came up with a rating scale.
I could use the rest of this article to go over the methodology and measurement aspects of the study, but the real meat of the article was the conclusion which found that in patients suffering from any form of dementia, their cognitive function decreased as untreated hearing loss increased. In other words, the more severe the hearing loss, the worse the cognitive abilities became.
Here’s the clincher, it was only slightly better for those who had no signs of cognitive dysfunction. Better, but only about 3-5%, as outlined in the comments after the conclusion:
“This study was designed to test the
hypothesis that hearing impairment
contributes to cognitive dysfunction in
older adults. In our study population,
we found that hearing impairment was
more prevalent in demented than non¬
demented patients and that the risk of
dementia increased with progressively
greater amounts of hearing loss. In ad¬
dition, hearing loss was correlated with
poorer cognitive functioning in nonde¬
mented as well as demented patients.
These associations were statistically
significant even after controlling for po¬
tential confounders. Thus, the findings
ofthis study lend support to the hypoth¬
esis that hearing impairment contrib¬
utes to cognitive dysfunction in older
adults.” (Uhlmann et al. 1989).
They also pointed out, however, that there was nothing to imply that hearing loss was the cause of such dysfunction, merely a factor contributing to the fact that it hearing loss made the problem worse.
Some clinicians have hypothesized that this is a result of a person turning inward as the hearing loss gets worse. We see that every day in our clinic, people who, afraid of being left out, choose to do that pre-emptively, and stay at home in a more controlled environment. Many researchers believe this is a primary cause of the worsening of dementia.
So does treating the hearing loss prevent or slow down the process? By treatment, we simply mean wearing hearing aids, which is the only known treatment for sensorineural hearing loss, and another group of physicians studied the effects of treating the loss on cognitive function, (Allen, N.H. et al, 2003). The results Indicated that “Forty‐two percent of subjects showed an improvement on an independently rated measure of change. The hearing aids were well accepted. Both (care providers) and subjects reported overall reduction in disability from hearing impairment”, (Allen et al. 2003). Bear in mind that 20% of the people studied did not have anything worse than a mild hearing loss and several of those were able to achieve better results once the ears were flushed of wax and debris which were occluding the ear canal.
But they did point out, however, that wearing hearing aids did not improve cognitive functions, but made the issue of communicating with patients much easier and reduced overall psychiatric issues associated with whatever form of dementia the patient was suffering from.
So the short answer is this: patients with hearing loss, who also suffer from dementia, can prolong their cognitive health by treating the hearing loss. Symptoms of dementia are not improved by wearing hearing aids, (in patients with hearing loss), however communication is facilitated and therefore engaging the patient is significantly easier for both family and care providers. The same studies also showed that those who do NOT have dementia, but were senior citizens with hearing loss, also had marked reduction in the loss of cognitive function, but the statistics indicated that these numbers were slightly lower, which is to be expected, since they are not showing signs of dementia.