Cognivue Thrive®

Hearing Loss & Your Brain

Hearing loss can affect one in three people over the age of 65, and recent studies have pointed to a link between cognitive decline, which leads to dementia and hearing loss. Hearing loss is incredibly common and is strongly associated with aging, although it can occur for several reasons. About 25 percent of people aged 65 to 74 years, and 50% of those aged 75 years and older suffer from hearing loss. And yet in this age group, fewer than 1 in 3 people who may benefit from hearing aids have ever used them.

Untreated Hearing Loss Can Affect Cognitive Abilities

Scientific studies indicate that hearing plays a critical role in brain health – and hearing loss can lead to diminished cognitive function. Fortunately, there's a chance that more aggressively treating hearing loss may delay cognitive decline and dementia.

Atrophy

The first connection between hearing loss and cognitive issues, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, is formed when the "hearing" portion of the brain becomes impaired, resulting in tissue loss and brain structural changes. Research indicates that people with hearing loss have brains that shrink-or atrophy-faster than those with healthy hearing.

Social Isolation

The less we activate our brains by communicating with other people, places, and things — and the less we use our minds to hear and listen — the quicker our brains degrade, placing us at an increased risk for dementia.

Cognitive Load

With untreated hearing loss, you have to work a lot harder when you can't hear enough to make sense of what people are doing. Each conversation you participate in involves a considerable amount of mental energy and effort. When you use up much of the mental resources you have in your daily interactions, there is less left for your brain to use on memory or other cognitive functions.

Cognivue Thrive^®: Test Your Cognitive Function

Manhattan Audiology incorporates cognitive screening as part of a comprehensive audiological evaluation to fully understand our patients’ functional and communication needs. This assists in our hearing treatment plans and assesses outcomes.

This patient service has been introduced after considering recent research on the correlation between hearing loss and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Specifically, the 2020 Report of the Lancet Commission: Dementia prevention, intervention, and care.

We also put considerable weight behind the research findings from Johns Hopkins, which has determined those with untreated hearing loss had a 55% greater risk of developing dementia compared to those with normal hearing.

During the screening, we test central function, which includes cognitive processes important for understanding speech. This is necessary for providing a more comprehensive treatment plan for age-related hearing loss. We use a screening device called Cognivue Thrive®, which is based upon Cognivue’s FDA-cleared technology.

Cognivue Thrive® has proven to be highly sensitive, reliable, and very much suited for detecting mild cognitive impairment but is not a stand-alone diagnostic tool.