Impact, Identification and management of hearing loss in people with dementia
•Seminar 2pm - 4 pm, free networking lunch from 1pm
•Martin Harris Centre: G16 registration and lunch and John Casken Theatre for seminar presentations.
Speakers:
Dr Piers Dawes - Overview and interventions for hearing loss in People with Dementia
Dr Jenna Littlejohn - Assessment of hearing loss as part of dementia diagnosis
Dr Rebecca Millman - Management of Hearing Loss in People with Dementia.
Both hearing impairment and dementia are increasingly common among older people. A previous survey in Manchester found that up to 90% of people with dementia living at home have a significant hearing impairment. The survey reported that in most people, hearing impairment had not been previously diagnosed or treated.
Hearing impairment is a particular problem for people with dementia because firstly, it may be difficult to tell how much someone's difficulties are due to hearing problems and how much is due to a memory problem. Also, the tests used by doctors to diagnose memory problems and dementia are affected by hearing, so that someone might do poorly on a dementia test because they have hearing problems rather than a memory problem. Some people may end up with an incorrect diagnosis of 'dementia', or doctors may decide that the severity of dementia is worse than it actually is because someone's difficulties may be at least partly due to hearing problems rather than dementia. Hearing impairment may result in people not getting the most appropriate treatment or support.
Secondly, hearing impairment impacts on communication and quality of life, and may interact with dementia to make someone's difficulties in daily life worse. Hearing impairment may contribute to social isolation and withdrawal from mentally stimulating activities, and social isolation and withdrawal may promote progression of dementia. Identifying and managing hearing problems is very important for improving communication and quality of life for people living with dementia.
In this MICRA seminar, we will talk about work from the SENSE-cog project (http://www.sense-cog.eu/) and other on-going projects looking at the impact of hearing impairment on people living with dementia, how doctors should assess people for dementia when people have a hearing problem and how to reduce the impact of hearing impairment for people living with dementia.
Speakers
Dr Piers Dawes
Role: Lecturer in the Audiology and Deafness Research Group
Organisation: University of Manchester
Dr Jenna Littlejohn
Organisation: University of Sheffield, Department of Neuroscience
Dr Rebecca Millman
Role: Lecturer in the Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness
Organisation: University of Manchester
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
G16
Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama
Manchester
