Hearing loss and dementia hearing aids

Hearing loss and dementia/hearing aids/how to help a dementia patient with a hearing aid

Hearing loss is a normal part of the ageing process, the two issues go hand in hand. Historically, this is why there was never much connection made between hearing loss and dementia.

Recent studies though have shown there is a link between hearing loss and dementia. It has been reported that mild hearing loss doubles the risk of dementia. Moderate hearing loss leads to three times the risk, and severe hearing loss makes the person five times more likely to be impacted by dementia. 

It is now strongly believed that deafness leads to greater cognitive load 

If a part of the brain is becoming overloaded with the task of hearing, this will have a negative impact on tissue in other parts of the brain. A key thing to make sure you cover is if you have any even small concerns about someone’s hearing ability or declining lack of, you should get them to get their ears tested as soon as possible. Hearing aids can take some of the pressure off the brain, so reduces the risk of dementia as well as reducing the impact of dementia. 

Find out more in our Knowledge Base section for articles on dementia and dementia care.

Although hearing aids can and are a great asset to stave off dementia and the impact of it, the solution doesn’t lie in just giving the person a pair of hearing aids and assuming the problem is solved. As someone with dementia will likely be showing the telltale symptoms of struggling with sensory impairment and the challenge of learning anything new, it will take effort and time to make sure the dementia patient knows how to use the hearing aids and feel comfortable using and wearing them. 

It can be difficult with hearing aids at first, every sound and noise is amplified. 

Traffic noise outside, and air conditioning noise can be as noticeable as people talking in a room. The issue for the dementia patient is being able to differentiate between ‘noise’ and ‘meaningful sounds’.

As a result, anything you can do to minimise meaningless noise in the house will definitely help. 

• Cutting out the noise of a TV/Radio left switched on when it is not being listened to will help. 

• Playing a person’s favourite music on a stereo/IPod can be a lot better than playing the radio, with the annoying jingly commercial breaks that you often hear on the radio. 

• Design the acoustic elements of the house to maximise the positive benefits of what the person can hear, rather than the negative effect of communal noise. 

• Soft carpets and furnishings can help cushion noise and is beneficial. One of the real trends over the last 10 years has been people putting down wooden or stone flooring in their houses. Owing to the louder noise this creates when people walk on these surfaces is not ideal for a person with dementia/hearing aid wearer. 

• Using soft carpets and/or carpet tiles is a far better solution to keep noise to a minimum. 

• Keep hearing aids maintained correctly - make sure the batteries are replaced often and that the controls are functioning properly. Hearing aids can produce whistle noise, and squeaks, so you want to avoid this. 

• Check for Ear wax - the build up of wax can have a big impact on someone’s ability to hear, so make sure they have their ears cleaned/syringed appropriately. 

Best advice - sit down in each room of your house, close your eyes and listen to any background/distracting noise and make sure you work to minimise that noise.