The "Linking Hearing Loss With Dementia" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in front of my iMac punching the keyboard in my office while a couple of cats are looking out the window at the birds in the trees and the squirrels gathering sunflower seeds from the ground.  The three of us enjoy our time together...that is until I get too cold and have to drop the window down and ruin it for the cats.  Now, this has absolutely nothing to do with my story....until my wife yells to me to answer the phone.  "Sorry, I didn't hear it," I yell back to her.  And, that's how it goes from time to time, for you see I have a hearing loss.  I have written about it a few times before, but I recently read an article about the risk factor of developing dementia if you have a hearing problem.  I can remember when I was a child and saw my granddad wearing these things over his ears.  Found them fascinating!  Needless to say they were his hearing aides.  Today, my hearing aides are pushed into my ear with a small clear plastic piece that can be seen, but only if you search for it with your eyes.  Many of my friends wear hearing aides and when I recently visited with a former student of mine who I hadn't seen for over 50 years, he too was wearing them.  I questioned him about them and he said that being an airline pilot will do it to you.  Hearing those jet engines on a daily basis does it to everyone in the industry.  He even mentioned that the hearing protection they wear when directing a large plane into it's proper location won't keep you from losing your hearing.  It was about a month ago that while reading the Lancaster newspaper, I came across an article in the "Together" section of the paper that was titled "Sound Effects."  The sub-head read: Science seeking answers for what has become the largest modifiable risk factor for developing dementia.  Got my attention, so it did!  Hearing loss is now known to be the largest modifiable risk factor for developing dementia; exceeding that of smoking, high blood pressure, lack of exercise and social isolation.  By preventing or treating that hearing loss in midlife has the potential to diminish the incidence of dementia by 9%.  Doesn't sound like much, but what if that 9% was meant for me; or even you?  Nearly 38 million Americans are afflicted with hearing loss which increases the risk of dementia, depression, falls and even cardiovascular diseases.  Wouldn't you want to do something about it if you had the chance?  Your brain has to work harder to process sound and if you have a hearing loss, no matter to what degree, the brain has to work harder to understand what it hears, thus depleting its ability to perform other tasks.  Are you someone who has a hearing loss and says it doesn't bother you?  At first I was like that.  I did enjoy the quiet at times; even in a noisy room.  Then I realized that it shut me out of so many things; even a friendly conversation with friends at a meal.  I knew I couldn't hear like I used to and I knew exactly why.  In the early 1970s I coached the rifle team at the high school where I taught.  We practiced all year; with no ear protection!  I didn't know any better; neither did anyone else!  Then, at the end of my 5th year of coaching my wife told me I better stop to see the school nurse, since I couldn't hear what she was telling me anymore.  Some might laugh and say I was doing it on purpose, but in my case that just wasn't true.  So I went in to see the nurse, she did a hearing test on me and looked at me and said, "Your hearing is awful!!"  I made an appointment the next day to see a hearing specialist who had me in a pair of hearing aides within a month.  

My Life Savers

I also never stepped foot in the rifle range after that.  Getting people with a substantial hearing loss to use hearing aides is an enormous challenge for family members, friends and even the family doctor.  For me, I never knew how bad it was until it was too late.  And, the damaging effect of noise exposure is cumulative.  Be aware that if you are someone who works in a noisy environment, listens to music through headphones, uses a hairdryer daily or is subjected to noisy traffic on a daily basis, you are probably in need of hearing aides.  That is unless you wear ear protection all the time.  Betcha don't, do you?  Just like me.  I'm on my third pair of hearing aides, since my first pair, and they work better and are easier to place in my ears than ever before.  No one can see them unless they are standing to my side and stare at my ears.  And, so what if they know.  Chances are they should be wearing them also.  And, if it helps one little bit that I won't develop dementia: well, I should have done it long before I did.  I was one who was stupid and didn't think the noise of a .22 rifle being fired in an enclosed area would bother me, but boy was I wrong.  It not only ruined my hearing, but just about ruined my life.  Thank goodness my wife noticed and made me go see the nurse.  Who knows what I might be fighting my now.  Don't be a victim as I was.  Do something about it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.