Hearing Loss, Dementia and Cargo Cult Science
The preeminent American physicist, Richard Feynman, coined the term “cargo cult science” to describe practices that on the surface appear scientific, but upon closer scrutiny lack any of the precepts of the scientific method. A January 25th JAMA viewpoint article raises the red flag on the rise of pseudoscience in the care of older adults…
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HHTM Hearing News Round-up: This Week’s Highlights
It’s the middle of summer, so grab an iced tea (or an Arnie Palmer, if that’s your thing) and catch up on some industry news. FDA States that OTC Category Does Not Yet Exist The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates hearing devices, issued a letter to hearing aid manufacturers on July…
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Is pessimism about getting old a risk factor for dementia?
Pessimistic people, who worry their golden years will be filled with trials and troubles, may be causing those fears to come true. A recent study, however, suggests that fighting the negative stereotypes associated with aging could have broad benefits for public health. The new study finds that older Americans with negative beliefs about aging were…
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Burdens of Hearing Loss and Dementia Expected to Put Pressure on Current System
If you’re a newly minted Doctor of Audiology, chances are good that by the end of your career you will see a near doubling of the number of people with hearing loss in the United States. Fueled mainly by a steady shift toward older adults, a recent report in JAMA-Otolaryngology, indicated that by 2060 more…
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New Columbia University Study Adds Further Evidence that Hearing Aids May Improve Cognitive Function
NEW YORK — According to a newly published study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, researchers at Columbia University found that older adults who use hearing aids performed significantly better on cognitive tests than those who did not–despite having poorer hearing than those who did not wear hearing aids. The study adds further evidence to a…
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The Latest on Cognitive Decline, Listening Effort and Hearing Aids
The prevalence of dementia is expected to soar as the average life expectancy increases, but recent estimates suggest that the age-specific incidence of dementia is declining in high-income countries. In the February 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Claudia Satizabal and colleagues report “robust evidence” of dementia’s decline. Using observational data collected from…
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Hearing Loss, Dementia and “Out of Reach” Costs Are Topics at AAAS Meeting
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s most well respected scientific organizations, held their annual meeting in Washington, February 11-15, 2016. On Sunday, February 14, Dr. Frank Lin of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore participated in an AAAS symposium entitled, At a Loss for Words, or…
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Hearing Aid Use and Cognitive Function: Research Continues to Show Mixed Results
Several industry press releases last week, including those posted by the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) and the Hearing Review, touted a longitudinal study, published in the October, 2015 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. The study, authored by a group of researchers at the University of Bordeaux, France, indicated that hearing aid…
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