A recent study has unveiled a unique link between loss of hearing and possible dementia. Nevertheless, gradual hearing loss is associated with getting old; this study has resurfaced another potential impact of getting old.

The study was conducted over 600 dementia-free adults between the ages of 36 to 90 for a period of 12 years and showed that nearly 30 % had some hearing loss at the beginning of the study, and by the end of the study 9% suffered with dementia.

Additionally, the study has revealed that people with hearing loss are almost twice susceptible to dementia as compare to those with normal hearing. Though researches have accepted the possibility of some brain malfunction to be the cause of dementia, the study has certainly added another facet to the research of dementia.

Responding to the research, the lead researcher, Frank R. Lin, M. D., an ear surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore reportedly expressed the probability of reallocating resources in the brain to cure hearing loss.

Supporting the research work done, George Gates, M. D., a hearing expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the new study claimed that poor hearing strengthen the probability of dementia. Further, Gates who has previously worked on the similar research topic claimed the audition and cognition can never be separated.