Study shows decline in cognitive abilities may be connected to poor vision or hearing

A new study talks about a decline in cognitive abilities and a possible connection with poor vision or hearing.

The brain can only do so much and when we're trying to understand something that we're reading or hearing our brain is having issues performing other tasks.

A recent study found further evidence that poor or uncorrected vision and hearing abilities can put such a drain on the brain's cognitive function that it can speed up the onset of dementia by three to six years.

"Your brain has to process at a higher rate in order to fill in the gaps of what you're not hearing," Dr. Thomas Willcox tells Fox 29.

"The effect can begin at a very mild degree of hearing loss - you don't even have to be severely impaired and they are seeing evidence of earlier and more pronounced dementia there's a greater trend toward dementia."

They're still studying exactly how and when it happens, but folks like Martha Mulenga have theories," You know what I'm really worried about; How we're all wearing headphones all the time and who knows at what volume."

Dr. Willcox is more worried about the reasons why people don't get their vision and hearing checked or corrected, "There's a social stigma," he says.