Researchers Propose New Theory on How Untreated Hearing Loss May Lead to Dementia

Image
HHTM
September 4, 2020

Hearing loss has been shown to be linked to dementia in epidemiological studies and in a recently published article in the journal Neuron, a team at Newcastle University provide a new theory to explain how a disorder of the ear can lead to dementia.

It is hoped that this new understanding may be a significant step towards advancing research into Alzheimer’s disease and how to prevent the illness for future generations.

 

The Link Between Hearing Loss and Dementia

 

The researchers considered three key aspects; a common underlying cause for hearing loss and dementia; lack of sound-related input leading to brain shrinking; and cognitive impairment resulting in people having to engage more brain resources to compensate for hearing loss, which then become unavailable for other tasks.

The team proposes a new angle, focusing on the memory centers deep in the temporal lobe. Their recent work indicates that this part of the brain, typically associated with long-term memory for places and events, is also involved in short-term storage and manipulation of auditory information.

They consider explanations for how changes in brain activity due to hearing loss might directly promote the presence of abnormal proteins that cause Alzheimer’s disease, therefore triggering the disease.

“The challenge has been to explain how a disorder of the ear can lead to a degenerative problem in the brain. We suggest a new theory based on how we use what is generally considered to be the memory system in the brain when we have difficulty listening in real-world environments.”

Professor Tim Griffiths, Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences

 

Collaborative research

 

Work on mechanisms for difficult listening is a central theme for the research group, including members in Newcastle, UCL and Iowa University, that has been supported by a Medical Research Council programme grant.

“This memory system engaged in difficult listening is the most common site for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. We propose that altered activity in the memory system caused by hearing loss and the Alzheimer’s disease process trigger each other. Researchers now need to examine this mechanism in models of the pathological process to test if this new theory is right.”

–Dr Will Sedley, Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences

The experts developed the theory of this important link with hearing loss by bringing together findings from a variety of human studies and animal models. Future work will continue to look at this area.

Reference:

How can hearing loss cause dementia? TD Griffiths, M Lad, S Kumar, E Holmes, B McMurray, EA Maguire, AJ Billig, W Sedley. Neuron (2020)

 

Source: Newcastle University, Neuron

Leave a Reply