Read below to find one great reason for early hearing-aid fittings

It’s a fact that the human brain becomes smaller as we age. But there­­­­­­­­­­­ is now evidence that the brain of a hearing impaired person with an unaided hearing loss shrinks dramatically faster, according to National Institute on Aging and from researchers at the Johns Hopkins University. In this study Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D and his team compared brain changes over time between adults with normal hearing and hearing impaired adults.

The group with impaired hearing lost more than an additional cubic centimeter of brain tissue each year compared to the normal-hearing-group.

The shrinkage was affecting particularly those regions of the brain that are responsible for processing sound and speech. Probably a consequence of lack of stimulation of the auditory cortex. The same regions also play an important role in memory and sensory integration and are involved in Alzheimer’s disease.

This study brings to light why experts are saying that persons over the age of 60 with untreated hearing have 5 times the risk for cognitive disease such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia.