In this project, Professor Jason Warren at University College London explores how hearing loss plays a role in two different types of dementia to enhance listening environments for people living with dementia.
Project start date: September 2022
Project end date: March 2026
About the project
We hear with our brains as much as with our ears. We know that different dementias target the brain in different ways, and that hearing changes may give an early warning of dementia – but our understanding of the links between hearing loss and dementia are incomplete.
Professor Jason Warren’s research team aim to support earlier dementia diagnosis and improve hearing and communication for people with dementia, using new, ‘smart’ brain-friendly technologies.
How it works
The research team will compare hearing brain and ear function in people that have one of two forms of dementia: Alzheimer’s disease and primary progressive aphasia (a major dementia of younger people). They will test people’s hearing scores and brain changes in everyday listening environments, and measure the hearing brain’s ‘plasticity’ – its capacity to adapt and recover from damage.
The team will also evaluate how hearing measures could predict dementia diagnosis and brain degeneration, and use this information to design and test new digital software and ‘virtual reality’ applications to develop ‘smart’ hearing aids.
How will this research benefit people with hearing loss?
This research will generate new tests and markers of hearing and auditory brain function in Alzheimer’s disease and primary progressive aphasia. This could inform future diagnosis and clinical trials. It will also guide the future development of personalised ‘smart’ devices that can improve everyday listening and communication for people living with dementia.
People with dementia often have difficulties with their hearing, finding it challenging to understand speech and other important sounds. This can affect their quality of life, hindering communication with others and leading to people becoming isolated. Hearing loss and dementia are often misdiagnosed as each other, which impedes treatment and care for both conditions. Much of this harm might be avoided and the impact of dementia delayed or prevented if hearing loss were diagnosed and treated more effectively.
About the researcher
Professor Jason Warren is Professor of Neurology at University College London. This project was awarded the RNID Discovery Research Grant, funded in partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK.
I believe the fundamental importance of our brains for successful hearing – particularly in noisy listening environments – is still under-appreciated by researchers in the hearing and dementia communities. I really hope projects like ours will help to change this perspective – and get these communities working more closely together.”
