Hearing aids fail to slow Cognitive Decline in high risk elderly individuals

A recent study, known as the ACHIEVE study published in the The Lancet has shed light on the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline in older adults. The study by Frank Lin and team aimed to investigate whether a hearing intervention could mitigate cognitive decline in cognitively healthy older adults with untreated hearing loss.

Conducted at four community study sites across the USA, the ACHIEVE study was a multicentre, parallel-group, unmasked, randomised controlled trial targeting adults aged 70–84 years. The participants had untreated hearing loss but lacked substantial cognitive impairment. They were recruited from two distinct study populations: older adults participating in the long-standing observational study of cardiovascular health (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities [ARIC] study) and healthy de novo community volunteers.

In the trial, the participants were randomly divided into two groups. The first group received a hearing intervention involving audiological counselling and provision of hearing aids. The second group, serving as the control, received health education with individual sessions covering topics on chronic disease prevention. The participants were monitored every six months, and the primary endpoint was the 3-year change in global cognition standardized factor scores from a comprehensive neurocognitive battery.