Kimberley Wilson

Yeah, sorry, carry on.

No, no.

If your hearing starts to go, people who don't get a hearing aid are more likely...

to develop dementia than people who do get a hearing aid.

Similarly with eyesight.

And we think that's because essentially, like everything else in your body, your brain works on a use it or lose it principle, right?

So if you don't keep working on your flexibility, your body says, we don't need to move in that range of motion anymore.

Let's not bother maintaining it.

We'll put the energy somewhere else.

And similarly with your brain,

If your brain isn't being, if those neurons aren't being stimulated and used, then your brain says, well, we're not going to put the energy into maintaining them.

We can use that energy elsewhere or just save it.

And so when you lose your hearing, you're getting fewer inputs of stimulus from the environment.

Your brain is being less challenged.

And so it's kind of like an empty warehouse.

You know, you kind of close the door and it starts to degrade because if you're not constantly using it and it's being constantly upkept, then you start to lose it.

And the other potential association between hearing loss and dementia is the loss of socialization.

Yes.

Because we know that social connections are so important for our well-being, helps to lower our stress.

It does.