As few as 15 percent of people who would benefit from hearing aids use them
A friend recently noticed that she couldn't always hear her phone ringing or family members calling from another room. A hearing test revealed mild loss in high frequencies, which was possibly age-related—she is in her early 60s, and some difficulty with these frequencies often comes with advancing years. She didn't need hearing aids yet, but she says she'll monitor the situation and get them if the time comes. She was glad she asked for the test.
Yet recent research has revealed that even mild or moderate hearing loss in older adults is associated with accelerated cognitive decline. People with hearing loss are more likely to develop dementia, and the likelihood increases with the severity of the loss. In 2020 a Lancet Commission on dementia identified hearing loss as the leading modifiable midlife risk factor for later development of the disease.
When hearing loss is untreated, the brain's organization changes, says auditory neuroscientist Anu Sharma of the University of Colorado Boulder. In adults with mild hearing loss, studies show a decrease in gray matter. Sharma found early signs that vision and touch areas of the brain encroach on and repurpose underused hearing areas.
These consequences of hearing loss contributed to the Food and Drug Administration's decision last year to create a category of over-the-counter hearing aids. Traditional aids, dispensed by audiologists, average $4,700 a pair and are not covered by Medicare or most private insurance. Most of the new OTC devices cost between $500 and $1,900. But quality varies a lot in this range. The high end includes customizable devices.
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