Category — Hearing Loss Info

People with hearing loss often find themselves excluded from conversation and social gatherings. This tendency to exclude can often leave the person with hearing loss feeling anxious and depressed. If the person with hearing loss is excluded for a long enough period of time, they may start to voluntarily withdraw from family and friends. It is important to make sure to include those people you know with hearing loss in the conversation. This inclusion needs to be a conscious effort, as the natural tendency of people is to exclude those who may not fully understand what is being spoken.  Read more... (294 words, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)

The shift of cognitive function from memory to hearing is similar to the way people with vision loss shift cognitive function to their other senses. When a child is born with a congenital defect that causes deafness or blindness, the loss of sense affects the brain so that the other senses take over for the missing ability. It has been shown patients who are blind from birth use their hearing, touch and smell with more fine tuned abilities than people who are normally sighted.  Read more... (416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Neuroscience professor Arthur Wingfield has advised, “The study is a wake-up call to anyone who works with older people, including healthcare professionals, to be especially sensitive to how hearing loss can affect cognitive function.” Professor Wingfield advises anyone who works with older adults to modify how they speak to older adults, not necessarily dramatically slowing down their speech. Anyone who interacts with older adults who may have hearing loss should be aware this condition may also affect their memory.

Short term memory is a function of the brain that allows people to access events and information which has occurred recently. When hearing loss affects the capacity of an adult to access this recently saved information, conversation and interaction with others can become extremely difficult. Physicians and caregivers who interact with aging adults should be cognizant of possible hearing loss which may exacerbate an existing memory loss condition.  Read more... (402 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Brandeis University researchers have discovered older adults with mild to moderate hearing loss can lose their ability to remember words and language. Studies have shown, even when adults retain any amount of the ability to hear words and repeat them, older adults’ ability to remember the words they have heard is diminished if they are experiencing hearing loss. Additionally, the effects of hearing loss on word recognition have been found to be mostly an auditory phenomenon. In contrasting types of memory, hearing loss appears to have more of an effect on the ability to hear spoken words with little to no effect on words presented visually.  Read more... (410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Physicians should take a patient’s possible hearing loss into consideration when examining older adults for potential medical conditions that affect memory.

Only a hearing professional can diagnose and prescribe treatment for hearing loss. With the information on the connections between hearing loss and memory function, hearing professionals should pay extra attention to other problems their patients may have.

Once it has been determined an older patient is experiencing memory loss issues, they should also be examined for potential hearing loss.

If an older adult is diagnosed with mild to moderate hearing loss, they should also be examined for potential memory loss issues.  Read more... (163 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

In contrasting types of memory, hearing loss appears to have more of an effect on the ability to hear spoken words with little to no effect on words presented visually.

It is important to understand one of the symptoms of hearing loss may be the reduction of the ability to remember conversations or spoken words.

Hearing aids, which allow mild to moderate hearing loss to be improved, can reduce the effect of hearing loss on a patient’s ability to remember spoken language.

The use of hearing aids, allowing patients to use less of their concentration on hearing, can improve patients’ memories to levels experienced prior to the hearing loss.  Read more... (172 words, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Professor Wingfield advises anyone who works with older adults to modify how they speak to older adults, not necessarily dramatically slowing down their speech.

Professor Wingfield’s research can be found published in the journal, Current Directions in Psychological Science.

The effects of hearing loss on memory in older adults are significant when physicians are trying to diagnose other age related memory disorders.

The shift of cognitive function from memory to hearing is similar to the way people with vision loss shift cognitive function to their other senses.

The memory function in older adults who can hear at normal levels is measurably better than the memory function of adults with hearing loss.  Read more... (158 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

It has been found possible to effectively diagnose Alzheimer’s patients with hearing loss.  This ability to diagnose and treat hearing loss is significant and should be considered with any Alzheimer’s patient, as the symptoms of Alzheimer’s can mask the symptoms of hearing loss.

The human act of hearing and processing sound uses large portions of the brain.  This ability to intake, process and comprehend sound can be diminished by the ravaging effects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Even when there has already been a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia in older adults, correcting a previously undiagnosed case of hearing loss can reduce potential memory loss.  Read more... (214 words, estimated 51 secs reading time)

A study published in Clinical Gerontology in 1986 found that 80% of a group of 30 older adults that tested positive for symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease also showed signs of moderate to severe hearing loss.

In the 1986 study, 33% of the tested group with hearing loss was categorized into a less severe degree of senile dementia once the hearing loss was treated.  Generally this treatment employed the use of hearing aids.

It is widely known in the medical community that undiagnosed hearing loss can lead to withdrawal from others, which can decline into depression.  Depression can also lead to anxiety disorders and is a risk factor common among many Alzheimer’s disease patients.  Read more... (231 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)

Unfortunately, for many older adults, the symptoms of hearing loss can mimic the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, making someone experiencing both medical problems difficult to diagnose.  These symptoms can include confusion, misunderstanding conversation and declining short term memory.

One of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease that makes itself apparent is requesting the same information repeatedly.  This is also an early symptom of hearing loss, often happening because the patient with hearing loss cannot understand the words being spoken.

Another symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is trouble joining into or following a conversation.  This symptom is identical to an early signal of hearing loss, where the patient has difficulty following conversation in noisy surroundings.  Read more... (227 words, estimated 54 secs reading time)