The study shows that people who suffer from DFNA9 (Deafness Autosomal Dominant 9), a hereditary form of hearing loss, score much worse on cognitive skills compared to healthy peers.
“If you have trouble hearing, social contacts require more energy. Your brain receives fewer stimuli and has to work harder to keep up. As a result, you increasingly avoid social situations, which means that your brain receives even fewer stimuli and becoming less and less ‘fit’,” says researcher Hanne Gommeren.
A cochlear implant can largely eliminate this backlog, even for those who previously had less good results. “The memory and concentration of the patients improve, they can enjoy a social life to the full again and, above all, take longer and better care of themselves,” explains researcher Ellen Andries.