Many of us will be impacted by dementia at some point in our lives, either directly or indirectly. Because our hearing often deteriorates with age, many of our customers and their families have been affected by dementia.
We’re working with Alzheimer’s Society to help raise awareness of the charity and to improve people’s understanding of the condition. There’s a lack of awareness of how lifestyle factors, including hearing loss, are connected to your cognitive health. We hope to raise awareness of the steps that people can take to improve their health and well-being.
Out of 14 modifiable risk factors that can impact your chances of developing dementia, hearing loss plays the biggest part.
Although the connection is not completely understood, there are a few possibilities that could explain the link.
It could be that when we struggle to hear, we fill in the gaps – but this puts extra strain on our brains at the expense of other faculties, like thinking or memory.
It’s also possible that the social isolation caused by hearing loss means that people who struggle to hear don’t keep their brain as active or as engaged as those with busy social lives.
And it’s also been suggested that hearing loss may even cause an ageing brain to shrink more quickly.2
Research into whether hearing aid use can delay the onset of dementia is ongoing2, but one thing is clear: taking action on your hearing loss is risk free. You have absolutely nothing to lose by getting your hearing checked and any hearing loss treated.
How are we supporting Alzheimer’s Society?
As an organisation, we wanted to make sure that everyone who works at Hidden Hearing is as understanding and compassionate as possible when speaking to those individuals with dementia.
That’s why we’ve become a Dementia Friendly Organisation, encouraging all of our staff to undertake training to become a ‘Dementia Friend’. According to Alzheimer’s Society UK, “Dementia Friends is the biggest-ever initiative to transform how the nation thinks, acts and talks about dementia.”
And as part of World Alzheimer’s Month (September 2024), we’ll be donating £1 to Alzheimer’s Society for every hearing test we carry out between 16–22 September.
You can find out more about how to become a Dementia Friend by visiting the Alzheimer’s Society website.
