I have to pay careful attention to understand what people are saying in noisy places (like in a car or a bar,). I'm starting to realize how much additional mental work that requires and how much of my attention is focused not on what people are actually saying but just on being able to understand them. (That extra work includes some lip-reading, which was tough when people were wearing masks and their voices were already slightly muffled.) That extra mental work is fatiguing, and at just at just a common-sense level seems like an additional load on my brain that already has some "senior moments." I'm getting hearing aids in a couple of weeks and really looking forward to having some electronic help even if wearing them offends my vanity. If they help to slow the seemingly inevitable cognitive decline with advancing age, so much the better!

Great update! I imagine that there will be a lot more information coming that will further clarify things. Meanwhile, it's perfectly clear that hearing and understanding others better makes for a better quality of life.👍

Correlation is not causation. It could also be a comorbidity.

Look at where the research money comes from. Is it from the hearing aid industry directly or indirectly? If so I would look at it suspiciously.

Great stuff as always!

Do we know if there is a study that tested against Cochlear and/or other implants types such Bone Conduction Implants or Bahas?

So funny. I am soon to receive phonac hearing aids! Nice to hear they are quite good!

I have those hearing aids and they are great, I would not go day without putting my hearing aids in.

Significant auditory deprivation can/does make anyone a bit or more befuddled (scientific term). Put that atop of plauque smothered brain tissue and the effect is more than just additive up until the dementia due to plaques is very advanced.

Did the study include other risk factors for dementia? Type2 diabetes , obesity, APOe4 gene?

Something to pay attention to is audio cognitivity in the brain not just the ear. It slows down. I find myself saying "What?" to my wife. Before she answers me I realize what she said. My internal audio processing has slowed down. How do we fix that?

Interesting information. There is a strong genetic component with dementia and hearing loss in my family. Dealing with familiar dementia for 50 years means that I am actively seeking ways to slow that progression. It’s good to know that proactively treating hearing loss with the assistance of a qualified audiologist like my hearing up audiologist, Scot Frink, is taking steps towards keeping my quality of life stable.

My Dad’s 89 and has a lot of trouble putting in his Phoneak Audeo hearing aids so he doesn’t wear them much. His cognitive ability is definitely declining but improves when he does wear them. Are there easier ones to put in?

Actually, this study was was declared by the author to be invalid because the people who had hearing aids and those who didn;t was reversed in the data base.

Yeah this is great but...some of us cannot make that decision because the cost of hearing aids is far beyond what we can afford. We need to be pushing to make health insurance cover hearing aids. Why does not one share that they're often thousands and many of us are left with no hearing aids or now just OTC ones that really don't cut it.

My hearing is great but tinnitus is annoying as hell some days, other days zero tinnitus. Brain is definitely old.😂

Needs to be a multi faceted approach. The brain needs more oxygen. Better sleep and exercise. You MUST change your diet with age. Treating hearing loss is also part of the equation