The #1 Dementia risk factor nobody talks about, and what to do

Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health. Did you know there's an invisible disability that affects one in five people globally? It increases the risk of developing dementia by five hundred percent and has few treatment options and no cure. I'm talking about hearing loss. An astonishing half a billion people have hearing loss that impacts their ability to communicate and connect with others. And even more worry, hearing loss cases are increasing fast, especially in younger people. For many, hearing aids and cochlear implants can be life changing, but they can't help everyone. Hope, however, is on the horizon. Scientists around the world have been working tirelessly to develop new treatments for hearing loss. Leading the charge is Doctor. Marcello Rivolta, a professor of sensory stem cell biology at Sheffield University. He's on the cusp of a major breakthrough that could mean hearing loss becomes a thing of the past. By the end of today's episode, you'll understand the latest treatments, what the future of hearing loss looks like, and how looking after your hearing could reduce your risk of dementia. Marcela, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. So we have a tradition here at ZOE where we always start with a quick fire round of questions from our listeners, and we have these rules that are designed to be really hard for professors. Right. And that is because the rule is you have to say yes or no or a one sentence answer if you have to. Are you willing to give it a go? Yep. Let's do it. Alright. Does hearing loss only really affect older adults? No. Are more of us facing hearing loss than ever before? Yes. Do people with hearing loss face an increased risk of dementia? Yes. That is true. Can hearing aids help everybody with hearing loss? No. Unfortunately, not. And finally, is a cure for hearing loss possible? We think it is. And we are developing something which we think could change the landscape. My podcast producer, Rich, has actually talked to me about how in his teenage years, he was running these underground raves. And that means now in his thirties, his hearing is actually damaged. And in my case, I remember the time that my son, aged about 11, so it's about seven years ago, joyfully showed me this app on his phone that played these, like, high pitched noises. And I discovered that not only I couldn't hear lots of noises that he said he could, but really depressingly, there were lots of noises my wife could hear that I couldn't hear. And I think since then, I've really noticed that in noisy restaurants, like, I can really struggle to hear people who are further away from me. You know, I'm aware that, like, I'm not quite as good as hearing as I was, you know, when I was 20. So then when …