The Use of Hearing Interventions for Reducing Cognitive Decline in Older Adults With Hearing Loss

A team of researchers investigating the use of hearing interventions to reduce cognitive decline in adults with hearing loss found that there is a possibility that certain interventions may reduce cognitive change.

Researchers developed a multicenter, parallel-group, unmasked, randomized controlled trial—the ACHIEVE study—which consisted of adults aged 70 to 84 years old with untreated hearing loss and substantial cognitive impairment. The ACHIEVE study took place at four community study sites across the United States, and participants were recruited from two study populations at each site: (1) older adults participating in a long-standing observational study of cardiovascular health (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities [ARIC] study); (2) healthy de novo community volunteers.

Participants randomly received either a hearing intervention (audiological counseling and provision of hearing aids) or an intervention of health education (individual sessions with a health educator covering chronic disease prevention). The primary endpoint of the study was “3-year change in a global cognition standardized factor score from a comprehensive neurocognitive battery,” the researchers wrote.

In the study, 490 participants received treatment through the hearing intervention and 487 participants received health education. Those from the ARIC study had more risk factors for cognitive decline, had lower baseline cognitive scores, and were older than participants from the de novo study.

In the study’s primary analysis, the researchers combined the ARIC and de novo cohorts and found that the 3-year cognitive change was not significantly different between the two different treatment approaches. However, the researchers found a difference in the effect of the hearing intervention on 3-year cognitive change between the ARIC and de novo cohorts.

 “These findings suggest that a hearing intervention might reduce cognitive change over 3 years in populations of older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline but not in populations at decreased risk for cognitive decline,” the authors concluded.
 

Reference:
Lin FR, Pike JR, Albert MS, et al. Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2023;402(10404):786-797. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01406-X