Research found that young
people with subtle hearing loss are altering their brain function in ways
typically only seen in older adults. As a result, they could be paving the way
for dementia.
Researcher Yune Lee and his team monitored the
brain activity of study participants 18 through 41 years of age as they
listened to increasingly complex sentences. The team wanted to know if our
brains work measurably harder to comprehend more complex messages.
Instead, they unexpectedly discovered that
participants with subtle hearing loss (everyone’s hearing was tested before the
monitoring took place) showed activity in the brain’s right frontal cortex, a
part not usually used to process language until much later in life.
HEARING LOSS AND DEMENTIA HAVE BEEN LINKED
With the growing body of evidence linking
hearing loss to dementia, Lee noted the findings could be worrisome. “If you
put all your energy into hearing, you drain cognitive resources that could be
used for other things such as memory and attention.”
Lee went on to say that if, as the study
suggests, this is happening earlier (due, perhaps, to subtle hearing loss
caused by the growing use of headphones), “it’s like withdrawing money from a
retirement account too early. You’re going to need that down the road.”
It’s just one more reason why hearing prevention
— and regular hearing checks — are important at every age, and why early
hearing loss treatment is recommended.