Researchers Warn About Link Between Hearing Loss and Parkinson’s Disease Risk

A new study has confirmed that hearing loss is an important sign of Parkinson’s disease developing later in life, indicating that early use of hearing aids may help prevent or minimize the long-term effects.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that affects movement and other systems in the body. There is no cure for the condition, which can cause stiffness, tremors, difficulty thinking, walking, talking, and lead to sleep problems, depression and memory issues.

People who have Parkinson’s disease often experience cognitive decline, as well as vision problems, hearing loss, and loss of smell. However, those symptoms often occur long before other tell-tale signs of Parkinson’s, such as tremors or slow movement.

In findings published last month in the medical journal JAMA Neurology, researchers determined that hearing loss is an important early risk factor for Parkinson’s, indicating that widespread hearing screening and earlier use of hearing aids may help reduce the incidence of Parkinson’s disease.

To reach these conclusions, a team of researchers led by Dr. Lee E. Neilson from the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, studied 7.5 million veterans using health record data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The data included information for 3.5 million veterans who had a hearing test from 1999 to 2022.

About one-third of veterans who suffered hearing loss experienced mild symptoms, another one-third suffered moderate hearing loss of about 35 to 50 decibels (db), 16% suffered moderate to severe hearing loss, and 4% suffered profound hearing loss of 65 to 120 db.

The data indicates diminished hearing was linked to an additional six cases of Parkinson’s disease 10 years later, when compared to those who did not experience loss of hearing. Researchers reported that the more the veteran’s hearing was affected, the greater the risk of Parkinson’s.

Researchers said receiving hearing aids early helped reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 21 cases per 10 years, but it was unclear if the hearing aids were helping to strengthen lost neural connections or if they were helping to restore the neural connections completely.

They posited that another possibility is hearing aids may help reduce strain on the brain, making it less taxing on cognitive function and less likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases.

The researchers also theorized that hearing aids may help to improve social interactions or improve symptoms and feelings of depression and loneliness, which can also contribute to cognitive decline.

“Hearing loss appears to be an independent risk factor for later development of PD (Parkinson’s disease). Hearing aids attenuate this risk, and therefore widespread screening for hearing loss and appropriate use of hearing aids may reduce the incidence of PD,” Neilson’s team concluded. “Additional studies are needed to examine the mechanisms underlying the association between hearing loss and PD.”