- hearing = A [ears to listen] + B [brain to decode/comprehend], people can have fine ears/hearing but still not comprehend (aka receive/decode).
- "We listen with our ears but hear with our brains," and "It is simply not possible to separate audition and cognition." and "findings suggest that poor hearing is a "harbinger of impending dementia" ~ George Gates, M.D., hearing expert.
- those who have difficulty following a conversation in a crowded restaurant, were nearly twice as likely as those with normal hearing to develop dementia.
- "those with moderate hearing loss had triple the risk" ~Frank Lin re 2011 study, otologist and epidemiologist, author of several recent studies pointing to a link between hearing and cognitive problems.
- "Studies have shown that uncorrected vision problems raise the risk for dementia," -Doraiswamy, M.D. "The benefits of correcting hearing loss on cognition are twice as large as the benefits from any cognitive-enhancing drugs now on the market. It should be the first thing we focus on."
- The temporal lobes are sections of the cerebrum, responsible for hearing, storing new memories and bringing back 'old' memories.
- People with hearing loss have a 40% greater chance of cognitive difficulty. The conditions may share a common, underlying cause.
another term that comes up in this discussion and the Dr. Lin's studies: "cognitive load" and this snippet sums it up:mom is generally in denial about a lot of things incl chronic health issues ie. muscle weakness, she trusts only labcoats so is slow to listen to my ideas until a dozen labcoats/MDs repeat them 13 years later on TV. even then, if her GP says the opposite, she will defer to that as gospel. its pretty typical human behavior really. it happens even to parents of doctors.
dad, in addition to needing sentences and words repeated, is also often struggling to find the right word and get his sentences out in timely fashion as people's attention spans wane. we all wait patiently for him to find it but know already what he meant, specially if you've heard the story 88 times before. each time i want to say 'forget about the name' just get to the end of the idea trusting the rest of us know what you mean or heard it 20x prior aka dont let the perfection factor detract/interfere so much. you've likely noticed this too, but just shrugged it off as quirky normal 'aging', not thinking much of it at all. i add it here a year later because i'm sure it relates and ties into the topic.
speak truth and be crucified.On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 1:59 PM, wolf <wolf@amplifyroi.com> wrote:the timing is uncanny. i wrote you the day dad mentioned he sent his hearing aid to be adjusted for the nth time. today he showed me a card about hearing, that had text without consonants, which is hard to decipher. on the flip side it highlighted dementia and cognitive decline as two of 4 bubbles related to hearing loss.
he was talking about the type of hearing loss he is having, none of which was news to me, so i had the chance to briefly note that there are two sides of the hearing equation, A [ears to hear] + B [brain to comprehend], that people can have fine ears/hearing but still not comprehend (aka receive/decode) the message at the brain.
when i flipped the card over and pointed to the two bubbles on the back is when dad immediately lost his cool, needed to shut me down, wave me off as ridiculous, leave the room, etc.. i'm used to this behavior for 5-10 years as dad has always been a talky know-it-all, but it does seem like it's getting a bit more melo-dramatic as we go than in years past. it's noteworthy in any case to include in this topic.i dont take it personally anymore when people have a strong reaction to what i say/write, people get unsettled around me no matter what, much like my electric field has fried 5 motherboards in 13 years incl mac/asus/lenovo and a cellphone. and dementia is dad's biggest fear (he has a few times told me), so just looking at me point to the word 'dementia' triggered a fear and denial reflex for him.
i don't blame him, i'd hope to have the courage to off myself hare-kare before it could paralyze me too, i see anyone 50+ offing themself as being courageous heroic champions of freedom vs risk being inevitably trapped in your own body/mind unable to groom yourself, the latter is clearly a prison sentence for the law-abiding.
dad himself has many times said he 'hears volume fine' but has a "comprehension problem" where words sound like blah blah nonsense (has less issue with talking heads on news shows, but any other drama/show dialog is tougher to follow).
for years he was reluctant to wear the hearing aid, as the problem gets more annoying for everyone and he realizes he has to do something, he is slowly coming to believe he has a "hearing problem" and while he has some hearing loss, its less than mine, and i have sensitive hearing, can enjoy/mix music and hear subtle nuances and frequencies most can't (likely due to confused-signals of neuropathy).
hearing loss may be normal for 70+ year olds but so is dementia for 10-15%, plus 10% with each decade.
- hearing loss afflicts 2/3rds adults over 70 and dementia is 1 of 4.
- mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in 9% aged 70 to 79 and nearly 18% of those 80 to 89
- 13.9 percent of the population age 71 and older, have some form of dementia
dad has no volume issues and has equal loss on both sides. my mysterious hearing loss that i've lived with all my life (at least since i electrocuted myself) is more profound than his and lopsided. mom has acute hearing yet is the one who turns the TV 2x louder than necessary unbothered by it.
my hunch is dad's "comprehension" hurdle over last 4-5 years could be a clue his hearing technicians are not talking enough about. so i decided to jump ahead and just take a peek at any connections between hearing loss and dementia (incl MCI mild cognitive impairment) as conceptually it makes total sense given how the brain is involved in vision/hearing/sensibilities/memories. the connection is a hot tip with newest studies since 2011.spent 2-3 hours this week data mining to get an idea of what it might be. i surmise from all of it, a couple things. once you weed through the study peer reviews etc it appears one may not cause the other, but they do seem to occur in tandem and do have an 'association' but not yet a confirmed 'connection' so theories abound and any hypothesis is as good as the next. i like the last entry below that jives with my general hypothesis - that the cause for both alzheimers and hearing loss may be environmental triggers like rx medications, heavy metals, synthetic pollution, monsanto, EMF smog, and even noise pollution like loud stadiums/restaurants that strain the brain. and if true, speaking generally, then i'd bet hollywood's obsession with violence/pornification aka cultural pollution would do similar, not to mention the stress we have with mates that can get a little too hostile or aggressive with mockery or inferred name-calling or worse include holes in walls, broken dishes etc.
Vision and Hearing Loss Are Tied to Cognitive Decline - The New ...
Sep 25, 2017 - National statistics demonstrate the importance of this relationship. The number of Americans with poor vision, often undetected among older adults, is expected to double by 2050;hearing loss – mostly untreated or undertreated – afflicts nearly two-thirds of adults over 70; both vision and hearing impairment ...One in 7 Americans over age 70 has dementia | University of Michigan ...
Oct 31, 2007 - About 3.4 million people, or 13.9 percent of the population age 71 and older, have some form of dementia, the study found. As expected, the prevalence of dementia increased dramatically with age, from five percent of those aged 71 to 79 to 37.4 percent of those age 90 and older.(Health.com) -- Gradual hearing loss is a common symptom of aging, but in some people it may also be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, a new study suggests. The risk of dementia appears to rise as hearing declines. ... Severe hearing loss nearly quintupled the risk of dementia.Feb 15, 2011
Hearing loss may be an early sign of dementia - CNN.com
www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/14/hearing.loss.dementia.health/index.html(Health.com) -- Gradual hearing loss is a common symptom of aging, but in some people it may also be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, a new study suggests.
The risk of dementia appears to rise as hearing declines. Older people with mild hearing impairment -- those who have difficulty following a conversation in a crowded restaurant, say -- were nearly twice as likely as those with normal hearing to develop dementia, the study found. Severe hearing loss nearly quintupled the risk of dementia.
It's unclear why the loss of hearing and mental function might go hand in hand. Brain abnormalities may contribute independently to both conditions, but it's also possible that hearing problems can help bring on dementia, the researchers say. Hearing loss may lead to social isolation (which itself has been linked to dementia), for instance, or it may interfere with the brain's division of labor.
"The brain might have to reallocate resources to help with hearing at the expense of cognition," says the lead researcher, Frank R. Lin, M.D., an ear surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. That may explain in part why straining to hear conversations over background noise in a loud restaurant can be mentally exhausting for anyone, hard of hearing or not, he adds.
The findings suggest that poor hearing is a "harbinger of impending dementia," says George Gates, M.D., a hearing expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the new study but whose own research has demonstrated a link between the two conditions.
"We listen with our ears but hear with our brains," Gates says. "It is simply not possible to separate audition and cognition."
In the study, which appears in the Archives of Neurology, Lin and his colleagues followed more than 600 dementia-free adults between the ages of 36 and 90 for an average of 12 years. A little less than 30 percent of the study participants had some hearing loss at the start of the study.
Overall, 9 percent of the participants went on to develop Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia. Mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss were associated with a two-fold, three-fold, and five-fold higher risk of later dementia, respectively, in comparison to normal hearing.
People with moderate hearing loss generally struggle to communicate even in quiet settings, and those with severe hearing loss are near deaf.
Lin says that hearing loss has an enormous impact on the lives of his patients and their family members. "Yet because it is such a slow and insidious process, it is often left ignored and untreated."
Whether hearing aids or other treatments (such as cochlear implants) can help stave off dementia is the "50 billion dollar question," Lin adds. Thirty million Americans currently have impaired hearing and 1 in 30 are predicted to suffer from dementia by 2050, so if those treatments prove to be helpful, their impact would be felt widely.
There is no cure for dementia, and there are no surefire ways of preventing it. Gates isn't optimistic that restoring hearing can affect the course of dementia. However, if treatments and prevention strategies for dementia do become available in the future, he says, hearing loss could play an important role in early detection.
Lin and his colleagues have begun researching the effect of hearing aids on the risk of dementia. "Whether or not it can help dementia, we don't know yet," he says. "But in the meantime, there's no reason not to take your hearing loss seriously and pursue some type of treatment."
https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-07-2013/hearing-loss-linked-to-dementia.html
Hearing Loss Linked to DementiaIt really doesn't seem fair: Hearing loss, a troublesome fact of life for more than 48 million Americans, according to the Hearing Loss Association of America, may increase the risk of cognitive problems and even dementia. By the time Americans reach their 70s, two-thirds have hearing loss."The general perception is that hearing loss is a relatively inconsequential part of aging," says Frank Lin, an otologist and epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. But recent findings, he says, suggest that it may play a much more important role in brain health than we've previously thought.Fortunately, there's a potential upside. If this connection — shown in several recent and well-regarded studies — holds up, it raises the possibility that treating hearing loss more aggressively could help stave off cognitive decline and dementia. Lin and other researchers have several theories about the possible explanation for the link between hearing and dementia, although they aren't yet sure which of them — if any — will prove true.Lin is the author of several recent studies pointing to a link between hearing and cognitive problems ranging from mild impairment all the way to dementia.In a 2013 study, he and his colleagues tracked the overall cognitive abilities (including concentration, memory and planning skills) of nearly 2,000 older adults whose average age was 77. After six years, those who began the study with hearing loss severe enough to interfere with conversation were 24 percent more likely than those with normal hearing to see their cognitive abilities diminish. Essentially, the researchers said, hearing loss seemed to speed up age-related cognitive decline.In a 2011 study focusing on dementia, Lin and his colleagues monitored the cognitive health of 639 people who were mentally sharp when the study began. The researchers tested the volunteers' mental abilities regularly, following most for about 12 years, and some for as long as 18 years. The results were striking: The worse the initial hearing loss was, the more likely the person was to develop dementia. Compared with people of normal hearing, those with moderate hearing loss had triple the risk.Lin is quick to point out that simply being at increased risk does not mean a person is certain to develop dementia."I have a 92-year-old grandmother who's had a moderately severe hearing loss for many years now," Lin says. "She's sharp as a tack. I was talking to her about my research and she looks at me and says, 'Are you telling me I'm definitely going to get dementia?' ""I said, 'Not by any means.' "A recent study, led by Isabelle Mosnier of Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris in France, offers more hope. Mosnier studied a group of 94 people ages 65 to 85 with profound deafness in at least one ear. Each received a cochlear implant followed by twice-weekly auditory rehabilitation. More than 80 percent of those with the lowest cognitive scores showed significant improvement one year after implantation, according to the study published March 12 in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University School of Medicine and coauthor of The Alzheimer's Action Plan, says that although the study had some shortcomings, "the improvement in cognition was huge — about double that seen with any of the current [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] FDA drugs for treating Alzheimer's." He adds that the findings about hearing loss affecting cognitive tests probably also apply to other senses such as vision, smell and touch. "Studies have shown that uncorrected vision problems raise the risk for dementia," he says.While the link between hearing loss and milder cognitive problems has been questioned by some, it is becoming increasingly accepted. "Every doctor knows that hearing loss can result in cognitive problems, but they still don't focus on it as a priority when they evaluate someone with suspected dementia — which is a big missed opportunity," Doraiswamy says. "The benefits of correcting hearing loss on cognition are twice as large as the benefits from any cognitive-enhancing drugs now on the market. It should be the first thing we focus on."Still, he adds, "We need long-term controlled trials looking at whether cochlear implants can delay the onset of dementia in at-risk subjects, which will clinch the case."4 ways hearing loss can lead to dementiaHow might hearing loss contribute to cognitive problems and dementia? Lin suggests four possibilities. The most obvious is a common physiological pathway that contributes to both hearing loss and cognitive decline — something like high blood pressure, for instance. But he and other researchers used statistical methods to take into account the factors known to be associated with both conditions, so Lin doesn't give this explanation much credence.Another possibility has to do with what researchers refer to as "cognitive load" — essentially, that the effort of constantly straining to understand stresses the brain. This one makes intuitive sense."If you put in a lot of effort just to comprehend what you're hearing, it takes resources that would otherwise be available for encoding [what you hear] in memory," says Arthur Wingfield, professor of neuroscience at Brandeis University. Research in Wingfield's lab has documented this effect on a short-term basis. The big question, he says, is whether years of drawing resources away from brain functions such as working memory will eventually reduce the brain's resilience.M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller, a psychologist from the University of Toronto, is conducting research to test the hypothesis that treating hearing loss in those with dementia will help to optimize communication, with positive effects on everyday well-being for the patient and caregivers. "I have no doubt that if a CI [cochlear implant] makes it easier for a person to listen, then they will be able to spend more of their power to do other cognitively demanding tasks."A third factor, Wingfield and Lin suggest, is that hearing loss may affect brain structure in a way that contributes to cognitive problems. Brain imaging studies, Wingfield says, show that older adults with hearing loss have less gray matter in the part of their brain that receives and processes sounds from the ears. "It's not necessarily that you're losing brain cells," he adds. Certain structures of brain cells can shrink when they don't get enough stimulation. This raises the question, Wingfield says, whether getting clearer speech signals to the brain through use of a modern hearing aid might allow these brain structures to recover their previous size and function.Finally, it seems very likely that social isolation plays a part. Being hard of hearing tends to isolate people from others: When you have to struggle to converse, you're less likely to want to socialize in groups or go out to restaurants. And being socially isolated has long been recognized as a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia.It will probably take much more research to tease out what factors might be at play. Most important, Lin says, is to find out whether providing state-of-the-art hearing loss treatment can prevent or delay cognitive decline and dementia. Lin and his colleagues have received the first phase of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to plan and develop a definitive clinical trial that will monitor a large group of older adults with hearing loss. Half will get best-practice hearing treatment, and the other half will get what Lin calls "watchful waiting." Over the following three to five years, researchers will track the participants' cognitive functions. The results won't be available until 2020 at the earliest.In the meantime, Lin says, if you have hearing loss, it makes sense to get it treated as well as it possibly can be. There's lots of room for improvement — fewer than 15 to 20 percent of those with a clinically significant hearing loss even use hearing aids.https://www.clearvaluehearing.com/clearvalue-hearing-blog/2016/8/24/hearing-with-your-brain-alzheimers-and-hearing-loss
Hearing with Your Brain - Alzheimer's and Hearing LossMany of us assume we hear entirely with our ears, but that's not exactly true. It helps to think of it this way: When you hear a favorite song on the radio, the radio itself is not the song – it's the tool that lets you hear the song. Similarly, your ears are the 'radio' for your brain. They are the tool that passes the song – or words spoken by a friend, or the giggles of your grandson – to your brain. Your brain then processes and 'hears' the sounds.
If it's been a while since your last science class, the cerebrum is the part of your brain inside your skull. Its job is to handle the daily tasks of life, you might say. It analyzes information, it makes decisions, it stores information, and it processes what your eyes see, your tongue tastes and your ears hear. The temporal lobes are sections of the cerebrum, and they are responsible for hearing, storing new memories and bringing back 'old' memories.
Hearing and Alzheimer's Disease
When you experience hearing difficulty, it's because there is a loss of information entering the brain. The auditory nerve – the part of your brain that carries sound information – begins to weaken. This forces the area of the brain that processes sensory input, like sound, to work harder to make sense of what it is hearing. Weakness of this shared area of the brain is connected to dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
This information was first published in a study by Dr. Frank Lin, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University. This study, titled Hearing Loss and Incident Dementia, has been the foundation for much of our understanding of the links between hearing loss and cognitive decline. We've always known that losing your hearing had a serious effect on your ability to communicate, but this discovery makes it quite clear that untreated hearing loss will do much more than just stop you from hearing your loved ones.
Losing your hearing is difficult enough, but this area of the brain is also involved in memory. If your hearing is impaired, the brain area that handles both hearing and memory may have to 'reshuffle' resources to do its job. Hearing loss can cause further difficulty when processing information in this area of the brain, which may already be struggling. The part of the brain that deals with memory, recall, and association may be weaker than it should if you aren't able to hear well.
There's more to this risk than sensory deprivation from a weakening in the auditory nerve. Many people with hearing loss feel socially isolated, and withdraw into themselves. This often leads to loneliness and depression, which are well-known risk factors for cognitive decline. Feelings of loneliness can increase the risk of dementia by as much as 60%.
Of course, not everyone with hearing loss will suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's, but a recent study showed that people with hearing loss have a 40% greater chance of cognitive difficulty. This is true even for individuals with only a minor hearing loss.
...https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20110214/hearing-loss-may-be-linked-to-alzheimers#1
Hearing Loss May Be Linked to Alzheimer's...
Investigating the Hearing Loss-Dementia Link
"A number of mechanisms may be theoretically implicated in the observed association between hearing loss and incident dementia," the researchers write.
It's possible, they write, that dementia may be overdiagnosed in people with hearing loss, or that those with cognitive impairment may be overdiagnosed with hearing loss.
The conditions may share a common, underlying cause. The researchers write that hearing loss may be "causally related to dementia, possibly through exhaustion of cognitive reserve, social isolation" or other factors.
If their findings are confirmed in further research, their study "could have substantial implications for individuals and public health," the researchers write.
"Hearing loss in older adults may be preventable and can be addressed with current technology" such as digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, the researchers say. Also, other rehabilitative interventions might be developed that would focus on "optimizing social and environmental conditions for hearing," the researchers write.
"With the increasing number of people with hearing loss, research into the mechanistic pathways linking hearing loss with dementia and the potential of rehabilitative strategies to moderate this association are critically needed," the researchers write.
They say hearing loss is associated with dementia, but whether it is a marker for early-stage dementia or a risk factor for dementia that could be modified remains to be determined.
The study is published in the February 2011 edition of Archives of Neurology.
Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month: What's the link between ...
www.betterhearing.org/.../alzheimer's-brain-awareness-month-what's-link-between-h...Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month in June is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the connection between hearing loss and cognitive function. A number of studies have come to light over the last few years showing a link between hearing loss and dementia. Specifically, a pair of studies out of Johns Hopkins ...https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/778028
Hearing Loss Linked to Cognitive Decline, ImpairmentPauline Anderson January 23, 2013
Older adults with hearing loss have a rate of cognitive decline that is up to 40% faster than the rate in those with normal hearing, according to results of a new study. Those with hearing loss also appear to have a greater risk for cognitive impairment.
"I would argue going forward for next 30 or 40 years that from a public health perspective, there's nothing more important than cognitive decline and dementia as the population ages," said lead author Frank R. Lin, MD, PhD, assistant professor, otolaryngology, geriatrics, and epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
"So from a big picture point of view, identifying factors that are associated with cognitive decline and dementia are important, in particular those factors that are potentially modifiable."
Although the study did not find a significant association between hearing aid use and rate of cognitive decline, Dr. Lin is convinced that addressing hearing loss could have an impact greater than just improving quality of life.
The study was published online January 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine, formerly known as Archives of Internal Medicine.
...
Hearing Loss Linked to Accelerated Brain Tissue Loss
Release Date: January 22, 2014...
That structures responsible for sound and speech are affected in those with hearing loss wasn't a surprise, says Lin - shrinkage in those areas might simply be a consequence of an "impoverished" auditory cortex, which could become atrophied from lack of stimulation.
...
"Our results suggest that hearing loss could be another 'hit' on the brain in many ways," Lin explains.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/could-hearing-loss-and-dementia-be-connected.html?pagewanted=all
Could Hearing Loss and Dementia Be Connected?
Interview by PAM BELLUCK Published: February 11, 2013
PAM BELLUCK: I'm Pam Belluck, I'm a health and science writer for The New York Times. And this week, I am interviewing Katherine Bouton, who has been a long time editor for The New York Times and it now a contributing writer to our science section. And she has written a book called, "Shouting Won't Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can't Hear You." And it's a look into her own personal journey with hearing loss and a look into the research behind hearing loss. Katherine has written a piece that looks at a very interesting and surprising connection that some scientists have found between hearing loss and dementia. Katherine, first of all, welcome to the podcast, thank you for joining us.KATHERINE BOUTON: Thank you very much.
MS. BELLUCK: And why don't you tell us a little bit about what the scientists have found here.
MS. BOUTON: In studies over about the past…beginning in 2011 and continuing now—a new study was just published last month—is that there seems to be a strong association between hearing loss and both the earlier onset and more serious degree of dementia even with milder hearing loss, but especially with very severe hearing loss. For somebody like me who has a hearing aid and a cochlear implant but I still don't hear very , this is alarming news.
MS. BELLUCK: All they have found at the moment is what's called an association. So we don't have any kind of causal connection—either that dementia either causing hearing loss or vice versa. But they do have three interesting theories about what could be happening. Could you lay those out for us?
MS. BOUTON: Okay, I should mention that the primary researcher on this is Frank Lin, who is at Hopkins and his database are two or three different long-term epidemiological studies. The first was based on the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. I went to see him after that first study was published and he had three things to offer.
The first made a lot of sense. It was that people with hearing loss tend to isolate themselves and isolation is a risk factor for dementia whether you're hearing or hearing-impaired.
The second is something that he calls cognitive load — and which I call cognitive overload. What happens is that when you aren't hearing very well, even with corrected hearing you're trying so hard to hear the person that it makes it very hard to actually listen to what the person is saying. It's very hard to absorb the information. When I did my interviews for this book – and I did a lot — I taped all of my interviews and I had someone else transcribe them because I couldn't hear the tapes. I went and I got my transcriptions back I was constantly surprised by what I had asked, what I had heard, what they had answered. Every interview was like doing the whole thing fresh twice over.
The third possible explanation is the one that is most alarming and it's the one that scientists like Dr. Lin and others are beginning to look at, and that's that there's an underlying pathological mechanism that has an influence on both hearing loss and dementia. It could be something environmental. It could be something genetic. They just don't know. [i think its pollution, heavy metals and EMF, and genetics are a bonus.]
These studies so far have relied on self-reported use of hearing aids. The next study that Dr. Lin is doing — he's submitted a grant application now — is to specifically study how hearings aids are used, how often they are used, how carefully they were fitted, how much continual contact with the audiologist there is, whether the hearing-impaired person uses any assistive technology in addition to the hearing aids or the cochlear implant.
MS. BELLUCK: I'm interested in what you're saying about corrected hearing. You are somebody wearing a hearing aid and a cochlear implant and according to the research that would not necessarily make a difference here. According to his research so far, people who are wearing hearing aids — it didn't protect them from getting dementia. So does that tend to suggest some support for this idea that there being this underlying biological mechanism that might cause both?
MS. BOUTON: First they have to determine what the real relationship is between correcting hearing and the development of early or serious dementia. So far, the questions about the uses of hearing aids have been answered anecdotally by the participants in the study. What Frank Lin and his colleagues are going to do now is a serious prospective study about how people use their hearing aids, how often they use them, how well they were fitted, how often they go back and have them reprogrammed, where or not they use assistive devices like FM systems and looping, which in effect augment the use of hearing aids and implants — until they can really determine the role of hearing aids and the development of dementia the underlying causative factor remains a sort of outlying explanation.
MS. BELLUCK: An unanswered question. You open your piece with a kind of anecdote about your own sense of cognitive overload, as you call it.
MS. BOUTON: What happens is that you can't really hear what the other person is saying and so you're grasping for straws and basically trying to direct conversation in a way where you'll be able to predict the answers.
I was at a party with my husband who is a literary editor and he was talking to a writer who I recognized and who I've met before, but who I figured didn't remember me. And suddenly I found the two of us standing side by side. And this writer has had best-selling books and he's very highly regarded and I have read his books and I wanted to talk to him about them. And I had a question about the second book — how it referred back to the first book.
And as I started the sentence I realized that I couldn't remember the name of the second book and as I got half way through the sentence I realized I couldn't remember the name of the first book either. So I stumbled through the sentence and said, 'your first book, umm, umm, ummm…' and he said — he gave me two choices. One of them I'd never heard of and of them was the book I was actually thinking of.
Last year, even, I would not have put myself in that situation. I would have just stayed home. I wouldn't have gone to the party and that's where isolation comes into this association with dementia as well because it's very typical behavior just to say, this is too hard, it's too embarrassing, I'd rather stay home and read a book.
MS. BELLUCK: Now, did you explain to him upfront that you have hearing loss and wouldn't be able to hear him?
MS. BOUTON: I did, but I don't have any visible signs of hearing loss and I tell people but I think they simply can't comprehend what I'm saying. And this is one reason I wrote the book. It's because I think people do not understand what so many people in the United States, and around the world for that matter, what their life is like on a daily basis. Serious hearing loss — it's something you can't just try it out for yourself. You can't put earmuffs on and go outside and see what it's like because it's not just that you can't hear, it's that what you do hear is distorted. You hear every single thing that's going on in the room, in addition to whatever you can grasp of the speaker's voice. You hear some kinds of sounds louder than other sounds. In my case I mostly hear the things — like a glass being put down on the table is like an assault. So, going out is difficult.
Even now, I have a dog that I walk in the park a lot and somebody will say to me, 'What's your dog's name?' and I'll say, 'He's three years old.' [Laughter.] It's windy in the park. It's hard to hear when it's windy because it makes noise on your hearing aid. But, I usually just guess what it is: 'What's your dog's name?' 'How old is your dog?' 'What kind of dog is that?' They all sound about the same to me. And I take a chance on getting it right — one out of three times.
MS. BELLUCK: Well, you're doing a great job with this interview, which we are doing across a table probably separated by about four feet.
MS. BOUTON: Well, I'm looking directly at you. And being able to read lips and hear at the same time is the optimal way to hear. There's a term for it, it's called the McGurk-MacDonald effect. It means that you hear bi-modally, so that if you can hear, and see and even better, hear and see and read, as you would do in captions on a TV, your hearing is optimized.
MS. BELLUCK: So, just to circle back to the subject of this piece, which is dementia, I would imagine that that's something of great concern to you, you're 65 now. What are your thoughts about whether you have increased risk for yourself?
MS. BOUTON: Yes, I do worry about it. My mother, who has perfect hearing at 88, has very severe dementia. So I would worry about dementia anyway from a genetic perspective, but these studies have given me additional reason to worry about it.
MS. BELLUCK: Is there anything else you would like to add?
MS. BOUTON: First of all, the number of people with hearing loss in this country is astonishing. Approximately 48 million people in this country have hearing loss. Of these 48 million people in this country with hearing loss, from mild to profound, by far the majority have sensorineural hearing loss, which is the hair cells are damaged in your inner ear. And that causes eventual deafness. By far the majority of this kind of hearing loss can be avoided. It's all noise-related hearing loss.
And one of the things I do in the book is talk about how noisy our society is. We have a real love affair with noise. If you've gone into any restaurant recently you'll know how loud it is. If you were at the Super Bowl and you weren't wearing earmuffs, you were probably deafened. Stadiums deliberately amp up the noise. Restaurants deliberately amp up the noise. It's a very dangerous environment and unless we do something to control the amount of noise we're exposed to on a daily basis, this rate of hearing loss is going to go on. And if these studies between hearing loss and dementia turn out to be accurate, as we get older that means a really considerable number of people having earlier and more serious dementia, which is — it's bad for them, but it's a huge cost factor in terms of public health.
...
Hearing Loss is Now Linked to Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. According to several major studies, older adults with hearing loss are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and dementia, compared to those with normal hearing. Further, the risk escalates as a person's hearing loss grows worse.Link Between Hearing Loss And Alzheimers - Beltone
https://www.beltone.com/hearing-health/alzheimers-and-hearing-loss.aspxAlzheimers and hearing loss | Hearing loss is now linked to Alzheimer's disease and dementia
According to several major studies, older adults with hearing loss are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and dementia, compared to those with normal hearing. Further, the risk escalates as a person's hearing loss grows worse. Those with mild hearing impairment are nearly twice as likely to develop dementia compared to those with normal hearing. The risk increases three-fold for those with moderate hearing loss, and five-fold for those with severe impairment.Specifically, the risk of dementia increases among those with a hearing loss greater than 25 decibels. For study participants over the age of 60, 36 percent of the risk for dementia was associated with hearing loss.
How are the conditions connected?
Although the reason for the link between hearing loss and dementia is not conclusive, study investigators suggest that a common pathology may underlie both, or that the strain of decoding sounds over time may overwhelm the brains of people with hearing loss, leaving them more vulnerable to dementia.
They also speculate that hearing loss could lead to dementia by making individuals more socially isolated—a known risk factor for dementia and other cognitive disorders.
In addition to being an important risk factor for Alzheimer's and dementia, multiple studies have shown that hearing loss worsens the symptoms of these diseases when they are already present. These symptoms include impaired memory, the inability to learn new tasks, reduced alertness, compromised personal safety, irritability, anger, fatigue, stress, depression, and diminished overall health.
Can hearing aids help?
In response to these findings, further studies are underway to determine if hearing aids can delay, or even prevent, dementia and Alzheimer's by improving patients' hearing.
The bottom line
Generally speaking, hearing loss develops slowly. Our brain's own ability to compensate and adjust to gradual hearing changes makes hearing loss difficult to recognize. That's why it's extremely important to have annual hearing evaluations. Experts encourage people as young as 45 to have a baseline hearing screening. Catching and treating hearing loss early can slow, or stop, its progression.
...
On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 11:29 AM, wolf <wolf@amplifyroi.com> wrote:
takeaway terms: auditory processing disorderprofessors/researchers in neurobiology spoke to feedback/timing hurdle, and genes that affect the functioning of brain chemicals like glutamate and GABA, important neurotransmitterstonight i'll look deeper into neurotransmitter, synaptic dysfunction etc...On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 10:59 AM, wolf <wolf@amplifyroi.com> wrote:ok, here is my first quick dive into the links i shared (which themselves brought me mostly hearing aid marketing pages, so had to find the 1 in 10 to get past the predictable (pretty much the same routine as finding out about anything in media). its just a toe dip, doesn't include searching on 'synaptic dysfunction' but already you'll see what i'm bumping into, types forums etcI can hear you, … but I can't understand you…
audioconsult.com/2011/08/i-can-hear-you-…-but-i-can't-understand-you…/Aug 13, 2011 - There are many factors involved in hearing and understanding what you hear. The sense of hearing is actually a very complex process. We hear sounds through a series of vibrations and signals sent from the nerve of the inner ear to the brain....
There are quite a number of different reasons that may give rise to such a complaint. A high-frequency loss of hearing is one potential reason, but another is the individual's Cognitive Hearing ability, often becoming especially noticeable as we age.What do we mean when we say "Cognitive Hearing?" This term refers to the complex set of brain processes that occur between the initial point when a sound is heard and the point where one is able to grasp the meaning or significance of that sound. This takes place in a very short period of time, and requires some very complex brain activity.
There are many factors involved in hearing and understanding what you hear. The sense of hearing is actually a very complex process. We hear sounds through a series of vibrations and signals sent from the nerve of the inner ear to the brain. This is where incoming speech is processed, and at this point it relates to the understanding rather than the hearing.
Below is a list of processes involved in hearing and understanding what you hear:
- Auditory Periphery – converts incoming acoustic signals into physiological information.
- Listening – selects information with the attention and effort of the hearer.
- Comprehending – interprets all contextual, linguistic and grammatical information.
- Reacting – storing in memory, reasoning and responding.
...When the Brain, Not the Ears, Goes Hard of Hearing - Newsroom ...
Feb 22, 2005 - There are many people who have good inner ears who just don't hear well. ... "But we are finding patients with normal ears who still have trouble understanding a conversation. ... Oftentimes it's this ability of the brain, not hearing itself, that is diminished in older people who say they don't "hear" well.
No comments:
Post a Comment