Hearing loss and loneliness can accelerate cognitive decline in older adults study finds

A large-scale European study has found older adults experiencing hearing loss and loneliness could be at triple the risk of cognitive decline.

Researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland wanted to investigate how social isolation and perceived loneliness can affect cognitive function and memory.

Published in Communications Psychology, the researchers analysed data from more than 33,000 adults over age 50 across 12 countries.

Participants were surveyed every two years about daily lives, including usual activities, social connections, and perceptions, before undertaking tests on cognitive functions like episodic memory.

The researchers identified three distinct profiles: people who are socially isolated and feel lonely, people who are not socially isolated but still feel lonely, and people who are socially isolated but do not feel lonely.

They then investigated whether each profile had a different trajectory of reduced cognitive function, finding those with hearing impairments who felt lonely experienced faster cognitive decline — regardless of their level of social isolation.

That combination of perceived loneliness and hearing impairment could put people at two to three times’ the risk of such decline.

‘‘We found that people who were not socially isolated but who felt lonely saw their cognitive decline accelerate when they were deaf,’‘ co-author and university professor Matthias Kliegel said.

With about 30 per cent of people over 60 having hearing loss, the findings underscore the importance of addressing the social and emotional aspects of hearing loss as well as its physical elements.

The World Health Organization estimates almost 2.5 billion people will have some form of hearing loss by 2050, 700 million of whom will require hearing rehabilitation.