The reviewers said large-scale, long-term randomised controlled trials were urgently needed to isolate the true cognitive effects of hearing devices from non-specific influences. Image: Peter Maszlen/stock.adobe.com. A new meta-analysis challenges the view that treating age-related hearing loss can help preserve cognitive function....
Do not change practice based on this meta-analysis alone; it challenges — but does not overturn — the evidence linking hearing treatment to cognitive benefit, and the authors themselves call for large-scale RCTs before conclusions can be drawn.
The cognitive-benefit narrative is a major driver of hearing-aid uptake and public health messaging; if this meta-analysis is confirmed, it would require significant reframing of how audiologists counsel patients about the broader benefits of treatment.
- 01Meta-analysis challenges the assumption that treating presbycusis (age-related hearing loss) preserves cognitive function.