In 2024, the Lancet Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care Committee identified 14 factors related to the occurrence of dementia. Eliminating these risk factors could prevent 45% of dementia cases worldwide.
Insufficient early education, hearing loss in middle age, traumatic brain injury, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of physical exercise, depression, smoking, obesity, social isolation in old age, air pollution, untreated vision loss.
Why does hearing loss increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease?
The auditory center (temporal lobe) is located beneath the lateral fissures of the brain, and the transverse temporal gyrus hidden within the lateral fissures is the primary auditory cortex area.
This brain region is mainly responsible for auditory information processing and participates in language comprehension, memory formation and emotion regulation.
When hearing difficulties occur, external sound signals cannot be effectively transmitted to the temporal lobe, resulting in a lack of stimulation in this brain area. The function of the temporal lobe gradually deteriorates, leading to Alzheimer's disease.
Long-term hearing loss can lead to a decline in speech recognition rate and expression ability, slow down brain thinking, sluggish reactions, and even affect the central nervous system, causing a decline in cognitive ability.
What are the other harms of poor hearing?
The balancing force deteriorates
The inner ear is composed of the cochlea and the vestibular organ, with the vestibular organ mainly responsible for balance. If the inner ear is injured and the vestibule is also affected, balance disorders will occur and one is prone to falls.
Memory decline
The auditory center (temporal lobe) is involved in memory formation and plays a key role in episodic memory, facial recognition and complex perception integration. The functional degeneration of this brain region may lead to memory decline.
It can trigger emotions such as depression
Hearing loss leads to a decline in speech recognition rate and expression ability, increases social communication barriers, triggers social isolation, and makes it easy to generate negative emotions.
"Safety hazard"
Because they cannot hear the sounds of horns, fire alarms, doorbell alerts, telephones, etc., stop-loss individuals are unable to perceive and judge the surrounding environment, making it difficult for them to promptly distance themselves from potential dangers, which leads to safety hazards and increases the risk of accidents.
How can middle-aged and elderly people protect their hearing and prevent Alzheimer's disease?
Early screening and early intervention
If you feel there is a problem with your hearing, go to the hospital for a check-up as soon as possible. If hearing impairment is diagnosed, you must wear a hearing aid as soon as possible. The earlier it is used, the more it helps to reduce the loss of functional degradation. After wearing a hearing aid, it takes some time to adapt. If the hearing loss is severe, speech rehabilitation should be carried out first to restore communication ability.
Active social interaction provides "supplementary stimulation" for the brain.
After the elderly person wears a hearing aid, family members should communicate more with them. When communication is difficult, be patient, speak slowly and pronounce as clearly as possible, and avoid using negative expressions such as "Why can't you hear again?"
Encourage patients to participate in senior universities and engage in activities with a slow communication pace to reduce their communication anxiety.
Control underlying diseases
Hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease and other conditions are all related to hearing loss. Paying attention to the prevention and control of chronic diseases can delay the process of hearing aging.
Form healthy living habits
Adopt a low-salt and low-fat diet, supplement more trace elements such as zinc, iron and calcium, quit smoking and limit alcohol intake to reduce the possibility of underlying diseases from the source.