Highlights
- •Hearing loss and dementia often occur together and hearing loss may be an independent risk factor for subsequent dementia.
- •Several mechanisms may contribute to the association, including brain pathology but also social factors.
- •Hearing loss is linked to multiple physical and psychological comorbidities in persons with dementia.
- •Multiple barriers exist in both screening and treatment of hearing loss among people with dementia.
- •Extended clinical trials are needed to establish whether treating hearing loss is effective in the prevention of dementia.
Abstract
Dementia and hearing loss are both common among older people. The co-occurrence of
the two conditions increases complexities in all aspects of an individual’s care and
management plan. There has been increasing research interest in the relationship between
dementia and hearing loss in recent years. In this review we discuss the relationship
between hearing loss and dementia, including hearing loss as a risk factor for dementia;
the effects of dementia with hearing loss on affected persons’ quality of life and
the care they receive; screening and available interventions; and opportunities for
prevention. We also discuss dementia and hearing loss in the care home setting, as
the majority of residents have either, or indeed both, dementia and/or hearing loss.
Several mechanisms have been suggested for how hearing loss and dementia may be related
but the evidence for how these may operate together is still unclear. Similarly, although
it is to be hoped that the active identification and management of hearing problems
may help to reduce the future development of cognitive impairment, evidence for this
is still lacking.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 05, 2019
Accepted:
August 2,
2019
Received in revised form:
July 30,
2019
Received:
June 18,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
