Age and genetics are the biggest factors influencing a person’s risk of developing dementia. However, other factors including hearing loss are also associated with dementia.
We don’t fully understand the link between the two conditions, so we fund research to better define it. This could lead to better ways to treat and prevent both conditions.
Sue, who has vascular dementia and hyperacusis:
The research into both dementia and hearing loss is hugely complex because of the different types of dementia and the different types of hearing loss, so the work that researchers are doing is absolutely vital.”
Our impact
What we’ve done
We’ve funded research that could improve how we diagnose dementia. Research we supported at University College London, led by Professor Jason Warren and Dr Chris Hardy, showed that hearing processes in the brain are affected differently in certain types of dementia: for example, the process that helps us understand speech in challenging listening conditions.
These processes are affected to different degrees in Alzheimer’s disease and primary progressive aphasia (a form of dementia that affects the ability to communicate through language). The researchers are now finding ways to better diagnose these conditions sooner, so that people can receive support earlier.
Since 2018, we’ve worked with the dementia research charity Alzheimer’s Research UK to jointly fund research into the link between the two conditions. Together, we’ve invested nearly £1 million into this crucial area of research.
Professor Jason Warren, dementia researcher at University College London:
I hope the next 25 years will bring a much greater understanding of the role our brains play in hearing – how protecting hearing may help protect the brain, and how hearing changes can be an early warning sign of a brain problem, such as dementia. We hear with our brains as well as our ears – particularly when we converse with friends and family socially, communicate over devices, listen to music or cherish the voices of loved ones.”
What we’re doing now
Researchers have developed several ideas about what might underlie the link between hearing loss and dementia. One idea is that hearing loss and dementia share disease-causing processes at the cellular level in the brain and inner ear. This would suggest that the same processes lead to both conditions, and that hearing loss develops first, acting like a flag for dementia.
Another possibility is that hearing loss may cause changes to the parts of the brain that receive and process information about sound. These changes then affect other regions of the brain, such as those affected in dementia.
We’re funding researchers at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy, led by Dr Fabiola Paciello, to search for evidence that supports either of these ideas. Their research should shed some light on which explanation is correct (if either).
What we’ll work towards in the next 25 years
Our future work will focus on developing:
- a better understanding of the link between hearing loss and dementia leading to better treatments and diagnosis for both conditions
- knowledge about whether addressing hearing loss e.g. through using hearing aids can delay or prevent the onset of dementia.
