The World Health Organization’s updated dementia prevention guidance — its most significant revision since 2019 — estimates that addressing untreated hearing loss could prevent approximately 7% of dementia cases globally, and now explicitly recommends hearing aid use for those with documented hearing loss....
Audiologists should proactively communicate the WHO's explicit recommendation for hearing aid use as a dementia-prevention strategy when counseling patients with hearing loss, strengthening the case for early intervention and treatment uptake.
A WHO-level guideline explicitly naming hearing aid use as a dementia-prevention tool gives audiologists and hearing care professionals a powerful, globally credible platform to advocate for early hearing loss treatment and expand public health partnerships.
- 01WHO's 2025 dementia prevention guidelines are the first major revision since 2019.
- 02Treating hearing loss is estimated to prevent ~7% of dementia cases globally.
- 03Hearing aid use is now explicitly recommended by the WHO for individuals with hearing loss.
- 04Hearing loss is elevated to a core public health priority within the dementia prevention framework.
- 05The update strengthens the evidence-based rationale for early audiological intervention.
Treating hearing loss could prevent approximately 7% of dementia cases globally.
guidelinepartially supportedThe WHO now explicitly recommends hearing aid use for individuals with hearing loss as part of dementia prevention.
guidelinesupportedThese are the WHO's first updated dementia prevention guidelines since 2019.
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