Hearing aids: are there benefits beyond better hearing?
Hearing aids: are there benefits beyond better hearing?
Here at Ear Care Specialists we are truly passionate about hearing and aural health.
When it comes to hearing loss, there are simply too many individuals out there who are yet to try hearing aids, despite being clinically suitable.
Factors influencing non-uptake include social stigma, cosmetic concerns, waiting times, hearing “not bad enough” and cost. Whilst these factors are important, this article aims to shine light on newly emerging benefits of hearing aid adoption, which extend far beyond the obvious expected improvements in hearing.
For many years, research into the benefits of hearing aids has often focused exclusively on measuring how they improve hearing e.g. speech clarity and discrimination, listening in background noise, listening effort and localisation of sound. But in more recent times, exciting new research avenues have begun to explore the links between hearing loss, cognitive health/decline and dementia.
Indeed there is now a growing body of compelling evidence which strongly suggests that hearing loss is a marker of risk for cognitive decline and dementia
(Davis et al. 2016, Dawes, 2019, Alattar et al. 2020, Lin et al. 2023).
And crucially, hearing aid use may ameliorate cognitive decline (Dawes, 2019) and has been associated with delayed diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease amongst older adults (Mahmoudi et al. 2019).
Here, I would point out that such links (hearing loss and cognitive health) are complex and do not occur in isolation.
Nevertheless, these additional potential benefits of hearing aid use are very much welcomed.
Talk to Dr. Jeff about your hearing
Simply book a comprehensive hearing assessment where we will thoroughly assess your hearing health, before making any clinical recommendations.
