Baycrest

Older adults frequently complain about difficulties having a conversation in a noisy environment, such as a restaurant or a community centre. "Even older adults who are using hearing aids often complain that they still do not understand what someone is saying if many people are talking at once," says Dr. Bernhard Ross, RRI Senior Scientist. "This has a strong impact on their daily life because they then may withdraw from social activities." People may not realize that relieving hearing loss could be a preventive step to ward off dementia. Untreated, mid-life hearing loss increases a person's dementia risk by nine percent, according to an international study on dementia prevention, intervention, and care. Those who can't hear well have difficulty communicating and withdraw from social activities, contributing to a downward spiral of greater stress, fatigue, isolation, and depression. In 2019, Dr. Bernhard Ross received an investment of $271,576 over three years from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to pursue research that could lead to improvements in treating hearing loss among older adults. Hearing depends on how well the ear functions; however, the brain interprets the sounds of what someone is saying into words that are understood. Dr. Ross specializes in exploring what is happening in the brain when someone is talking and how that changes as we grow older. His recent research found that certain brain rhythms work as the glue that combines the sounds of someone talking into words that are understood. The new CIHR funding will allow him to delve further into how the brain employs fast rhythms to process speech, even when multiple conversations are happening at once. The brain's binding technique helps individuals translate the right words into meaningful sentences. IMPROVING HOW TO TREAT HEARING LOSS AS WE AGE Dr. Bernhard Ross 2018–2019 YEAR IN REVIEW 9

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