[upbeat music]
What if I told you something this small,
a hearing aid, could fight dementia?
Would you get your butt to the audiologist
and get your hearing tested?
I want you to imagine for a minute
that your brain is a gas tank,
that it contains only a
finite amount of fuel.
As we get older and
our hearing gets worse,
our brain burns more fuel.
More fuel to listen,
more fuel to comprehend,
but the more fuel, the more
cognitive resources devoted just
to listening, the less fuel there
is for other tasks, like memory.
Now, I want you to imagine running
like this empty gas tank
scenario for 10 years.
This is the average amount
of time in adult with hearing loss waits
before seeking treatment.
Hearing loss is much more
common than you might think.
About half of us in this
room will start to show signs
of hearing loss in our 50s,
80% of us by the time we reach our 80s.
Despite this statistic,
only about 30% of us have
ever gotten a hearing test.
But what if I told you
hearing loss was linked
to lasting consequences?
First, hearing loss is
linked to cognitive decline.
Risk of dementia increases two
to fivefold when hearing loss is present.
Second, hearing loss
is linked to structural
and functional changes in the brain.
Hearing centers of the
brain literally atrophy
or maybe repurpose by other
senses like vision and touch,
and third, hearing loss
takes an emotional toll.
People with hearing
loss are two times more
likely to be depressed.
So what do we do about it?
That's where my research comes in.
I'm an audiologist and a nurse,
scientist, and for my dissertation study,
I took a group of adults
with normal hearing
and a group of adults with
early-stage mild hearing loss.
Some of them didn't even know
that they had a hearing loss
when they came into the study.
I looked at differences in
baseline brain function,
cognitive function, and social
and emotional status
between the two groups.
I then fit the adults with
hearing loss with a pair
of state-of-the-art hearing aids.
Guess what I found?
Within six months of hearing aid use,
the adults with hearing loss
are already showing signs
of more typical brain function.
Specific aspects like working memory
and executive function have improved.
And this is mild hearing loss.
I leave you with this thought.
Routine screens like
mammograms are standard
of care when we reach our 50s.
Why not hearing screenings?
What if one small change,
getting to the audiologist,
taking that hearing test,
trying a pair of hearing
aids might have a bigger,
more long-lasting impact than you think?
Thank you.
[audience applauding]
