Hearing loss increases dementia risk...Early use of hearing aids reduces risk of development
Aug 19, 2025
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This is the result of a study by Dr. Sudha Seshadri at the University of Texas at Glen Biggs Alzheimer's Disease and Neurodegenerative Disease Research Institute published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Neurology).
The research team analyzed the relationship between hearing loss and hearing aid use and the risk of dementia using data from 2,953 participants and their children in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), which began in 1948 and is still in progress.
Among FHA participants over 60 years of age (68.9 years of average age) without dementia, the parent cohort received 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 ㎑ pure tone deafness (PTA) in 1977-1979 and the child cohort received 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 ㏈ pure tone deafness (PTA) in 1995-1998, respectively, and those with 26 or more ㏈ who had difficulty hearing small speech or long-distance conversation were classified as hearing loss.
The use of hearing aids was investigated through self-report, and hearing loss, hearing aid use, and dementia risk analysis were divided into those under 70 and older. During the follow-up period, 583 people (19.7%) were diagnosed with dementia, of which 245 (42%) were under the age of 70 at the time of hearing test.
As a result of the analysis, the group who was under 70 years old at the time of the hearing test and used hearing aids after hearing loss was found had a 61% lower risk of dementia due to all causes than the group who did not use hearing aids. In addition, the group without hearing loss had a 29% lower risk of developing dementia than the group with hearing loss.
Reflecting the impact of the Framingham Stroke Risk Score (FSRP), which predicts a 10-year stroke risk by reflecting age, gender, blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and education level, these risks remained unchanged. However, there was no association between hearing aid use and dementia in those over 70 years of age.
The research team noted that aging-related hearing loss is a known risk factor for dementia, but only 17% of patients with moderate-severe hearing loss use hearing aids. The research team emphasized that this study suggests that it is important to use hearing aids to reduce the risk of developing dementia, and that it clearly shows that early intervention in hearing loss is important in lowering the risk of dementia.
Previously, a large cohort study of 573,000 Danish adults from 2003 to 2017 also found that people with hearing loss who do not use hearing aids have a higher risk of dementia than those who use hearing aids.
Meanwhile, in a paper published in the American Medical Association journal JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, a team led by Professor Jason Smith of Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S. found that one in three cases of dementia was affected by hearing loss. The research team said the findings suggest that treating hearing loss in the elderly can delay dementia in many elderly people, and that treating hearing loss in the elderly through public health interventions can have a wide range of dementia prevention effects.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
