Ask your audiologist...

How do we tell if our mother has dementia or untreated hearing loss?

Studies show there is a correlation between untreated hearing loss and the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The medical treatment for sensori-neural hearing loss (the most common type of hearing loss) is properly fit hearing aids.

Many times a family member brings in a patient and wants to know if their loved one has dementia or hearing loss. I have found that sometimes it is just hearing loss. Someone with hearing loss may respond slower or need speech repeated, which others may perceive as a cognitive problem, like dementia or Alzheimer's. I recommend that everyone over 60 years old to have a baseline audiogram, so they know where their hearing is now, and have the ability to compare results over the coming years.

If you don't use it, you lose it. Untreated hearing loss can lead to atrophy of the neural pathway and brain. Straining to hear is hard on you. Compare it to trying to read without your reading glasses. Straining to see to read the newspaper, book or menu is tough. It is all blurry, and no matter how much you blink and move it forward and back, you still can't read it, and you may even give yourself a headache. Eventually, you will give up or go grab your reading glasses. Once you have your glasses, it is much easier to read. Same with hearing aids. If everyone sounds like they are mumbling, or you have the TV up really loud and you still can't understand it, you are straining. Straining becomes tiresome. When someone gets tired of straining to hear, they may tune out on life. If you give up going to do things with friends or quit watching TV, you may stagnate and become depressed and lonely. Hearing well with a hearing aid is much easier on your brain than straining to hear all day.

Please have your hearing screened by a certified audiologist if you suspect hearing loss or cognitive difficulties, so that any problems can be addressed early for the best outcomes for all around health.

Dr. Tia Flynn is a certified audiologist and has been in business for more than 15 years.

Every Tuesday morning from 9 a.m. to noon, Dr. Flynn provides free hearing screenings at 1601 Third St. in Coeur d'Alene. (208) 664-2767. Visit our newly updated website www.affordablehearinginc.com for an online hearing test and helpful videos.