Early Hearing Loss Could Pave the Way for Dementia, Study Says

A study published in eNeuro suggests young adults who experience minor hearing loss exhibit changes in brain activity that are typically only seen in old age, reports Medical News Today . The researchers had 35 participants between 18 and 41 old undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging scans while listening to sentences of varying complexities. Some volunteers had subtle hearing impairments when tested at baseline, and the scans showed that these participants processed the messages they heard differently from their peers. Furthermore, their brain activity in this context was similar to that of aging listeners. Healthy young adults with no hearing problems solely use the brain's left hemisphere to process heard information, but subjects with minor hearing impairments showed activity in both the left and the right hemispheres. Specifically, the right frontal cortex became active, and Ohio State University's Yune Lee says "it shouldn't be happening until people are at least older than 50." The team is concerned that the hearing loss may only worsen, affecting comprehension, which can hasten the development of neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia. "We suspect that what happens is you put so much effort into listening you drain your cognitive resources, and that has a negative effect on your thinking and memory and that can eventually lead to dementia," Lee says.