Hearing Health and Cognitive Health: Ten Things That People Who Are Hard of Hearing Should Know

Over the last four decades, research has shown that there are connections between hearing and cognition in older adults. Over the last few years, research has turned to some important questions. What reasons explain why hearing loss and cognitive decline or dementia seem to be connected? If they are connected by a known cause, then could treatments for hearing loss reduce cognitive decline or dementia? If another cause affects both hearing and cognition, then could treatments for their common cause protect both hearing health and cognitive health? Here are ten things that people who are hard of hearing should know about what we know so far about the answers to these questions. These points will be expanded in future articles. 

Super-Aging, Super-Agers and Super-Hearing: Another Year Older, Another Year Wiser and Healthier

Canada is expected to become a “super-aged” society within the next five years. In 2025, are audiologists poised to become “super-hearing” care experts? 2025 is a super time to transform the old negative view of hearing loss as an age-related decline that leads to more age-related declines into a new positive view of hearing health as a key to healthy aging and even “super aging.”

Vision Loss as a New Potentially Modifiable Risk Factor for Dementia

The addition of vision as a new potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia is important for audiologists because many older adults with hearing loss also have vision loss. Reduced opportunities for multisensory integration and cross-modal compensation must be considered in all aspects of hearing care: screening, assessment, recommending technologies, and providing counselling or communication training.

Loneliness is Not an Age-Related Problem that Audiologists Can Solve Alone

Communication enables social relationships. Positive social relationships can have widespread health benefits. In promoting healthy aging, could audiologists do more to overcome the social isolation and loneliness of those living with hearing loss?

Quick Answers

Question #1: What should audiologists tell their clients about hearing aids and reducing dementia risk?

Question #2: What should audiologists learn from the story of the retraction of the Jiang et al. paper about hearing aids and dementia?

Inter-professional Team Collaborations to Achieve Hearing Care in Integrated Person-centered Care for Older Adults: A New Year’s Resolution for 2024

I invite Canadian audiologists to join me in resolving to make 2024 the year to move hearing care into a new era of integrated person-centered, inter-professional primary care. Together we can help older adults to function better by working towards communication accessibility.

Is Green the Colour of Quiet and If A Walk Around the Block Can Improve Cognition, Then What about Camping?

Recent population health research in Canada and the USA suggests that middle-aged and older adults living in green neighbourhoods are cognitively younger than those living in less green (more grey) urban environments.

What About Sex, Gender, Hearing, and Aging?

CanadianAudiologist.ca is pleased to welcome Dr. Kathy Pichora-Fuller as our new columnist. Her column “What’s new about getting older?” will delve into all aspects of ageing and hearing ranging from health policy developments to neurophysical research on the aging auditory brain.

Is Hearing Loss in Older Adults Predictive of Later Development of Dementia and Does Hearing Care Modify Dementia Risk?

This paper provides an overview of the rapidly expanding research evidence-base concerning connections between hearing and cognition. It underscores the importance of distinguishing between measures to evaluate performance on various domains of cognition in healthy older adults versus measures to screen for dementia and emphasizes that correlation does not prove causation.