Excerpt from HearingReview.com – Click here to read the full article

New research into understanding how the brain adapts and improves its hearing abilities through the use of hearing technologies could play an important role in the future management of dementia.

Preliminary research supports the notion that adults with hearing aids develop new neural pathways in the brain to more fully utilize the information created by these devices. To some extent, this conclusion is supported by anecdotal evidence that many adults who are initially unhappy with their hearing devices suddenly report dramatic improvement a month or so later, according to the press release.

“We don’t know yet exactly what is happening in the brains of these adults, but their observations suggest that perceptual processing changes are taking place in the brain as it adjusts to the information provided by hearing devices,” Crain explains.

“It’s early days but as the degree of hearing loss is highly correlated with the risk of dementia it seems highly likely that intervention with a hearing device to restore hearing in adulthood could assist in delaying the onset of dementia.”

Excerpt from HearingReview.com – Click here to read the full article