I am wondering, can hearing loss make dementia worse? I have always been told that hearing is one of the last senses you loose when dying, what happens when someone is in last stages of end of life? If they couldn't hear well in their life, can they hear what's going on around them or is it the same as when they were healthy, but had hearing problem's?
Ears send signals to the brain, and if ears lose function, the signals aren't getting to the brain. The connections between ears and brain then atrophy. The brain, which is then not getting signals, stops functioning as it should. So.....dementia. Add hearing loss to Alzheimers, which is caused by growth of plaque in the brain, and you've got a double whammy to the brain. Not good.
Whatever it costs, get hearing aids if you can't hear.
I think dementia might also lead to more hearing loss. Doctors have told me that the brain can lose it's ability to decode sounds. That's why you should get hearing aides as soon as you start to hear less, if you wait your brain's ability degrades. It would seem to make sense, then, that dementia could have a similar effect. You may be hearing OK but lose the ability to make sense of it.
Hearing loss definitely makes dementia worse, because it's so isolating. Also, people with dementia already have a hard time processing information, but being hard of hearing makes it even worse, because they aren't hearing the information clearly in the first place.
My mother was extremely hard of hearing, plus she'd started refusing to wear her hearing aids, so when she died I'm sure she not only didn't hear anything going on around her, her dementia would have prevented her from understanding. We still told her we loved her anyway.
https://rnid.org.uk/hearing-research/hearing-loss-and-dementia-how-are-they-linked/#:~:text=We%20also%20know%20that%20hearing,the%20impact%20of%20hearing%20loss.
From the article:
" We also know that hearing loss can speed up the onset of dementia, or make the symptoms of dementia appear worse, and dementia can heighten the impact of hearing loss."
So they may say what? and ask you to repeat what you said, not because they didn't hear it but because they didn't understand what was said.
I went through this with my late husband all the time.
I read once that it can take 45 to 60 seconds for a person with dementia to process what was said.
I don't know about you but in a conversation in 60 seconds...1 minute...I may be on to a totally different subject.
this can make it very difficult for someone with dementia to follow a conversation or even respond to a question. For example..."Betty do you want a tuna sandwich or a turkey sandwich for lunch?"
now you wait.....and wait.... for a response.
And you wonder did "Betty" not hear me? It might be that her brain is processing the question then trying to formulate a response but you are in a hurry and walk away to make a turkey sandwich...that she does not eat much of because she wanted soup.
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