At San Francisco Audiology, we’re committed to providing our patients with the best quality of care, as well as the latest information about living a life with healthy hearing. That’s why we’d like to let you know about a recent study conducted by the University of Maryland Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences that correlated hearing aid use with an improvement in cognitive abilities.
For the study, researchers monitored a group of first-time hearing aid users who had mild to moderate hearing loss over a six-month period. Participants underwent behavioral and cognitive tests that assessed hearing, working memory, attention and processing speed, as well as electrical activity in the auditory cortex and midbrain that occurred in response to speech sounds.
After wearing hearing aids for six months, participants exhibited improvement in working memory, neural speech processing and ease of listening.
“In effect, hearing aids can actually help reverse several of the major problems with communication that are common as we get older,” explained lead researcher Samira Anderson, Ph.D.1
Staying on top of your hearing health is one of the most vital ways to protect your quality of life. With new updates in hearing technology, hearing aids are more effective than ever at staving off memory loss and boosting social health.
As we approach the holiday season, be sure to connect with this crucial part of your health. If it has been more than a year since your last hearing evaluation, or if you feel you aren’t doing as well as you used to with your current hearing solution, call (415) 362-2901 to schedule an appointment.
1Healthy Hearing Foundation. (2018, June 19). New Research Shows Hearing Aids Improve Brain Function and Memory in Older Adults. https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/blogs/new-research-shows-hearing-aids-improve-brain-function-and-memory-in-older-adults