CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — While Dr. Keith N. Darrow may spend his professional life as an audiologist and neuroscientist, he is also a human being, and he understands the effects hearing loss can have on family and friends.
Darrow, who is the current director of audiology research at Intermountain Audiology, Chief Medical Officer for the Excellence in Audiology Network and the founder of the Hearing and Brain Centers, said he remembers watching his grandmother — the most vibrant and vivacious woman he has ever known — as her physical condition slowly deteriorated before his eyes.
Learn more about how hearing loss can affect family and loved ones and cause dementia in the “Ask a Local Expert” video in the media player above.
“She was playing shuffleboard until she was almost 80 years old,” Darrow said. “And then unfortunately we saw the two things happen together: the hearing got worse and worse and worse, her visual impairment got worse, and of course, the dementia set in.”
This was at a time when physicians didn’t realize that untreated hearing loss can increase the risk of dementia by up to 500%, Darrow said, adding that it is now known that 35% of cases of dementia could have been prevented.
“Perhaps if I knew then what we know now – that the early treatment of hearing loss is the most modifiable factor to help prevent dementia – perhaps my grandmother could have been saved,” Darrow said. “Perhaps she didn’t have to die of dementia.”
At Intermountain Audiology’s hearing clinics in St. George, Hurricane, Cedar City and Richfield, they know that dementia affects everybody, and it is important to know the lifestyle factors that you and your family can improve upon, to help improve your cognitive health.
For more information about hearing loss and cognitive function, click here.
To schedule a free hearing assessment today, call 435-228-5568 or visit the Intermountain Audiology website.
For more local expert opinions on topics from bankruptcy and family law, to sleep and oral wellness, click here.
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