The results of a study conducted by scientists from the University of California published A study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (J-ALZ) showed that hearing loss can lead to changes in areas of the brain responsible for auditory processing and attention. This could potentially lead to the development of dementia.
130 people, including hearing impaired people, participated in the research. The scientists collected information about the subjects’ health status and gave them magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor pathological changes in brain structure. It turned out that hearing impairment leads to microstructural transformations in the auditory areas of the temporal and frontal lobe associated with speech processing, as well as in the parts of the brain responsible for attention.
Such changes could potentially increase the risk of developing dementia, the scientists added. This is most likely due to the need to exert additional mental effort to hear environmental sounds and understand human speech. Such actions can overload the brain. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not yet fully understood.
It is stated that using hearing aids, watching television with subtitles, and talking to people in a quiet environment can reduce the risk of developing dementia in people with hearing loss.
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