October 2024 Newsletter: Audiology Awareness Month

As we get older, everyone will experience hearing loss, although the degree and extent are variable. Interestingly, the symptoms of cognitive decline and hearing loss in older adults are ~80% similar, making proper identification critical.

“I do cognitive screenings on all my patients; and in return, I wish it were the case that all patients diagnosed with mild cognitive decline underwent a hearing assessment. I want to emphasize that a person with memory loss who cannot hear is at a severe disadvantage. A person is more apt to be engaged and socially active if they can hear and interact with those around him. The last thing you want to do to a person with cognitive decline is allow them to suffer in silence by isolating them with hearing loss.”

Three data points in the research tells us that: 1) People with hearing loss are at risk for cognitive decline. 2) People who have difficulty hearing with background noise are 60% more likely to develop cognitive decline within 10 years. 3) People with tinnitus are at a significantly increased risk of cognitive decline and tinnitus.

“I believe it is very important for hearing healthcare providers to play a role in early detection and prevention. Given the current state of our busy healthcare system – less than 16% of patients are even asked about memory concerns (whereas 98% of patient have their blood pressure checked routinely!). The current healthcare system doesn’t have the time to or resourced to screen all older adults for cognitive decline. I believe one of the best avenues to increase early identification of patients with cognitive concerns is in sensory care settings. Ophthalmology, Optometry and Audiology all see patients at increased risk. Once screened, we can then send the results back to the PCP to dive deeper, and who can then refer to a neurocognitive specialist when necessary.”

“There have been clinical breakthroughs in pharmacology that have been able to delay the progression of memory loss in patients with cognitive decline and dementia by up to six months. This is a major improvement that will continue to develop. However, The ACHIEVE study out of Johns Hopkins found that for people with cognitive impairment, if you treat their hearing loss, it slows their cognitive decline over a three-year timeframe. If you have someone early on in cognitive decline, or early-stage dementia – if you can slow the decline for 3 years, that’s 5 times better than an FDA approved memory drug treatment. Treating hearing loss can improved memory, engagement, processing, and help keep people active and stimulated.”

Dr. Darrow has trained over 1000 hearing care providers through his Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care course. He became a trainer when COVID presented him with both the time and opportunity to complete the training. “This course made a lot of sense to add to my current teaching roster”. He brought the curricula to the American Academy of Audiology and International Hearing society to obtain CEU credit for Audiology which made it even more appealing to Audiologists and Hearing Instrument Specialist at large. Going from concept to execution was a long process. It took a year to go through the CEU approvals. He took time to get the marketing right, and in the 2.5 years since, more than 1000 students have gone through a mix of both live and virtual courses. For Dr. Darrow, it helps to have a niche to set him apart from the crowd of CDP instructors, but he acknowledged that the adult care industry is vast and has many niches, including nutrition, physical exercise, etc., that would benefit from having these courses offered.