Nicholas S. Reed Au. D., Baltimore, Maryland (USA)
Video 2
“Hearing loss and healthy ageing: Epidemiologic considerations”
A growing body of epidemiologic evidence suggests broader health-related implications of age-related hearing loss, including independent associations with cognitive decline, incident
dementia, and poorer physical functioning. The mechanistic pathways through which hearing loss may contribute to cognitive decline, in
particular, include increased cognitive load due to degraded auditory signal processing, social isolation due to communication difficulties, and increased atrophy and structure changes in the brain. Hypothetically, these pathways may be amenable to hearing loss treatment and thereby interventions such as hearing device fitting, aural rehabilitation, and communication strategy approaches may mitigate the influence of age-
related hearing loss on cognitive decline.
This session will focus on recent epidemiologic research and current and planned studies to
investigate the impact of rehabilitative hearing intervention on reducing cognitive decline and the risk of dementia.