Hearing aids did not cut dementia conversion in older adults
Over 24 months, dementia conversion was 3.09% with hearing aids compared with 4.74% with hearing care education, a non-significant difference.
JAMA Neurology
In a randomized clinical trial of 703 older adults with coexisting mild cognitive impairment and moderate to severe hearing loss, hearing aids did not significantly reduce dementia incidence over 24 months. Participants in Shanghai, China, who had a mean age of 74.53 years, were assigned to either a hearing aid intervention (n = 353) or hearing care education (n = 350). Conversion to dementia-level impairment occurred in 3.09% of the hearing aid group compared with 4.74% of the control group (P = .23). In prespecified secondary analyses, the rate of cognitive improvement was 15.34% in the hearing aid group compared with 2.36% in the education group. A total of 610 participants completed the trial, and no study-related adverse events were reported.
Why it matters
Hearing loss is a prominent modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline in late life. These results provide controlled evidence on whether sensory interventions can slow or alter cognitive decline in older adults who already present with mild cognitive impairment.
Caveats
The trial used an open-label design and evaluated conversion over 24 months, which yielded low overall event numbers. The study was conducted at clinical and community sites in a single city, which may limit generalizability.
The paper
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Xia Li, Zhili Wang, Wen Lu, Yilin Shen, Yuan Fang, Jie Chen, Lei Guan, Feifan Zhao, Zaichao Wu, Rong Tian, Qiongfei Yu, Kun Han, 盛海斌, Shengqi Chen, Jiayu Sun, Guangyu Liu, Hao Wu, Xueling Wang, Yunge Gao, Huipeng Li, Zhentao Wang, Quan Zhou, Yiwen Zhang, Jie Liu, Yun Lin, Qiyue Shen, Anxian Wang, Jiali Yu, Sijia Xu, Jin Li, Jin Zhou, Yunqian Ma, Xue Wang, Hao Guo, Jing Feng, Ying Sun, Mengping Wang, Weiyi Peng, Yimin Zhao, Yiyuan Fu, Ye Pan, Yuqi Jiang, Yini Li, Zhengyu Shi, Yanmei Feng, Dongzhen Yu, Jingwei Lai, Qian Wan, Yuanyuan Xu, Ruotong Wang, Jiawei Feng, Mingchen Deng, Huaiwen Cao, Ran Cao, Bin Ye, Yiming Zhong, Andi Zhang, Tianyuan Zou, Dongye Guo, Jinju Xu, Qi Qiu, Jing Nie, Shaowei Zhang, Ning Su, Shixing Qian, Weihua Hu, Lian Jin, Shijun Wang, Hua Zhao, Haiya Wang, Yun Li,Shanghai Jiao Tong University · Collaborative Research Group
JAMA Neurology · 28 Sep 2026 · CC BY-NC-ND