Why do you screen cognition for a hearing test?
At Alabama Hearing Associates, we don’t just treat your ears; we treat the whole person.
While your ears collect sound, your brain is what interprets it into meaningful speech.
In other words, you hear with your ears but you listen with your brain.
There is increasing evidence that links age-related hearing loss with an accelerated progression of cognitive decline and a decrease in brain volume.
Long-term hearing deprivation can affect cognitive performance by decreasing the quality of communication with others.
That’s why we use Cognivue® as an integral part of our “Connect 365” Functional Hearing Assessment.
How do I complete the Cognivue® Thrive?
Cognivue is a 10-minute screener that is completed using a laptop.
One of our staff will set you up in a dimly lit room with no distraction to ensure the best score possible.
You’ll first start with this quick introductory video:
The exercise becomes more difficult the better you do.
At the end, your results are compiled and compared to other people your gender and your age.
The audiologist will go over the results at the end of the appointment.
One thing I love about Cognivue® is that hearing ability isn’t a factor in the process. Even the short introductory video includes captions for those with more severe hearing loss.
This feature is very uncommon as most cognitive screeners only use auditory instructions and questions.
What does the Cognivue® evaluate?
Cognivue® evaluates three cognitive domains (memory, visuospatial, and executive function) and two parameters (processing speed and reaction time) that heavily influence hearing in everyday listening environments.
For more specifics on the Cognivue® domains and parameters, read below:
Memory: As hearing loss becomes more severe, your risk of not storing information properly increases, making it more difficult to retrieve information. On the other side of this, someone’s ability to remember decreases if trying to remember a degraded signal (such as what happens when someone hears through a hearing loss).
Visuospatial: Visuospatial capabilities are important for localization, whether it’s a dog barking or if you’re moving around a room. A decrease in visuospatial functioning in addition to untreated hearing loss increases your risk of falling—BUT the research shows us that correcting your hearing loss reduces your risk of falling.
Executive Function: Executive Function impacts your ability to hear in noisy environments. People with impairment in executive function tend to have more difficulty in situations with multiple speakers than in environments with non-speech noise (such as wind or road noise).
Processing Speed: Processing Speed impacts your ability to efficiently use your executive functioning. For people with an impairment with processing speed it may take a bit longer to process conversational speech in noise and someone may be more likely to stop paying attention if the listening environment is very difficult.
Reaction Time: Reaction Time impacts your ability to follow rapid conversation and follow multiple talkers, as well as your ability to respond quickly to questions and comments.
If you would like to schedule an appointment for a Cognivue® screening, please call us at 256-319-4327 or submit a contact request and one of our helpful team members will call you back shortly.
