LOS ANGELES: The prevalence of dementia is projected to double every 20 years because of the world’s aging population and thus, identifying all the factors and understanding the neurophysiologic pathways that lead to cognitive decline and dementia in older adults is a public priority as per Dr. Lin, author of prospective observational study of 1,984 older adults (2013) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Research scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the National Institute of Health (NIH) have found a strong link between untreated hearing loss and dementia. Older adults with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia over time than those who retain their hearing. Compared to those individuals with normal hearing, individuals with hearing loss had a 30 to 40 percent accelerated rate of cognitive decline and a 24 percent increased risk for cognitive impairment. The study also indicated that the more severe the hearing loss, the greater the likelihood of developing a cognitive disorder, and steeper the decline in the mental function…