If you’re hard of hearing, you may have lost more than your ability to hear; it could be accompanied by mild impairment in comprehension and reasoning too. A study conducted by a team from the National Institute of Health, Maryland in the US, and the University of Bari in Italy, points to a link between one type of hearing loss and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). As part of the Great Age Study presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, 1,604 participants aged 75 and above underwent a series of tests for hearing, reasoning and memory. There were three types of participants based on hearing loss: those with peripheral hearing loss, owing to problems with the inner ear and auditory nerves; those with central hearing loss, owing to the brain’s ability to process sound; and those who had no hearing loss at all. The results showed that individuals who had central hearing loss were twice as likely to also have MCI vis-à-vis those whose hearing was intact. The researchers believe both conditions result from the loss of function in the same set of brain cells.

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Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
April 2018