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Cognitive Screening in San Antonio, TX

Two separate reports from The Lancet Commision on dementia prevention, intervention, and care named hearing loss as the #1 most modifiable risk factor for dementia.

In addition, scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, along with researchers at Harvard Medical School, determined that cognitive decline was 30 percent higher among men with mild hearing loss than those with normal hearing, while those with moderate or severe hearing loss show a 42 to 54 percent higher risk for cognitive decline.

This research supports a ten-year long study carried out by Dr. Frank Lin at Johns Hopkins University and showed that individuals with mild, medium, or severe hearing loss were five times more likely to develop dementia than those without hearing loss.

The connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline is complex, but due to the seriousness of the connection, audiologists are taking a much greater interest in cognitive decline.

Our audiologists at Audicles Hearing Services are among them, adding cognitive assessment to the personalized hearing care we provide to our patients.

Using Cognivue, we’re able to use advanced diagnostic technology to measure the effect of your cognitive issues in association with hearing loss in order to help address your cognitive health as well as your hearing.

Schedule A Cognitive Screening Appointment

Outstanding! Thorough. Very proficient and professional. Compassionate. Patient. Extremely well deserved 5 stars!
John J

Dr. Jane Watson is very professional, friendly and transparent. She made me feel very comfortable throughout the entire process.
Hayley H

The young lady at Audicles Hearing Services was very kind and knowledgeable to us. It was our first time coming here and definitely not our last
Dorothy M

Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults

Four classifications that link hearing loss and cognitive decline in older adults were developed by the American Academy of Neurology.

#1 – Common Risk Factors

The narrowing of blood vessels affects the network of small blood vessels that feed the cochlea, leading to hearing loss. Blood vessel narrowing is also common in conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes, conditions that often accompany hearing loss and an increased risk for decreased cognitive health.

#2 – Mental Overload

When hearing loss exists, other parts of the brain, especially those involved in thinking and memory, have to fill in the gaps in communication caused by poorly transmitted sound. This puts a great deal more stress on those other parts of the brain, leading to mental overload.

#3 – Structural Changes

Over time, as areas of the brain used for sound processing find themselves without sound signals to process, they begin to atrophy or shrink because of their limited amount of activity, causing structural changes in the brain.

#4 – Social Isolation

According to University of British Columbia researchers, social isolation increases by a factor of 52% for every 10-decibel drop in hearing capacity. Avoiding social events and skipping out on family gatherings are common among those with hearing loss due to the stress and discomfort of struggling to keep up with conversations in environments with a lot of background noise or where numerous people are speaking at the same time.

What Is Cognivue Screening and How Does It Work?

Man suffering from cognitive decline

Audicles Hearing Services uses Thrive by Cognivue as a specialized tool to measure and detect cognitive decline. However, the use of Cognivue works beyond measuring your cognitive health and is an advanced tool that helps zero in on a more highly effective hearing care plan as well as proper selection of hearing aids.

Cognivue screening is a personalized, consistent, and reliable assessment of your overall brain health. The baseline scores developed by your first cognitive performance test makes it possible for you and your doctor to monitor changes to hearing loss and cognitive decline in order to establish new interventions for measuring the success of interventions already in place.

The features of Cognivue screening include:

  • Quick assessment (about 10 minutes)
  • Non-invasive
  • Interactive and intuitive
  • Self-administered
  • Immediate results after testing
  • Easy to understand results
  • Secure and confidential

Testing accuracy is improved due to a unique software algorithm designed to use patient responses in order to adapt the test according to the patient’s performance eliminating testing variability.

Results from Cognitive Screening

Scores from Cognivue screening are linked to five different cognitive functions. However, each of these areas are also linked to hearing challenges.

#1 – Memory Score

Your memory score reflects your capacity to retain information while processing the same or new information at the same time. This plays a critical role in sorting out complex sentences, following abstract thoughts, and comprehending speech when there is a lot of background noise.

#2 – Visuospatial Score

This score also indicates how effectively you use visual cues to process and interpret visual information, but it also relates to your capacity to process complex sentences and distinguish between speakers in a noisy environment by being able to identify where sound or a voice is coming from.

#3 – Executive Function Score

Your executive function score is an evaluation of how well you can coordinate and control higher order cognitive processes. Executive function guides your level of attentiveness, planning, problem solving, and more, skills that help you focus on a single speaker in a noisy environment or distinguish between multiple speakers talking at the same time, and the ability to focus on speech while ignoring irrelevant distractions during a conversation.

#4 – Reaction Time

This timed response demonstrates how quickly your brain coordinates between stimulus perception and response. Responding in an appropriate time frame when sound or speech signals dictate a quick reaction is a critical measurement of your cognitive function.

#5 – Processing Speed

Processing speed is another timed measurement that reflects how long it takes you to mentally process a task and relates to your ability to follow rapid and/or complex conversations, especially those taking place in an environment with a great deal of background noise.

Schedule a Cognitive Screening with Audicles Hearing Services

Because many of our patients have put off addressing their hearing loss for some time, some of them begin experiencing some degree of cognitive decline by the time they come to us for a hearing assessment. To be sure that we’re providing the highest level of hearing care, our team of audiologists at Audicles Hearing Services use Cognivue screening to provide the best possible hearing care that meet the broad range of your unique hearing and cognitive needs in order to improve your quality of life.

If recall, decision making, organizing tasks, a poor sense of direction, or other cognitive related issues have become a challenge for you or a loved one, use the adjacent form to contact our hearing care professionals to schedule a Cognitive Screening.

You Might Also Be Interested In

Everything You Need To Know About All The Different Hearing Loss Treatments In San Antonio

Understanding the Benefits of Cognitive Screening

Our ears do more than connect us to the world of sound. They are the gateway to our brains and play an important role in how we function on a daily basis.

Audiologist Required to Join Winning Team

Audicles Hearing Services is in search of a dispensing audiologist to join our amazing team in San Antonio, TX. It’s an opportunity to be part of a nationally respected team of passionate people who have built a stellar reputation as the most caring, trustworthy, and experienced hearing care experts in West Texas.

We’re now seeking someone that wants to join our work family, show us the commitment that we’ll show them and be part of shaping our future, as one of our audiologists.

To join our team, we care much more about you, your personality, and your career ambitions. From our experience, a great audiologist cares more about people than anything else, they feel a duty to help others, and they’re often willing to go far beyond normal expectations to delight their patients.

If this is how your co-workers and friends would describe you, we’d like to meet you:

  • Positive attitude, always a pleasure to be around, great sense of humor
  • Friendly, warm, a people person – and comes across the very first time you meet someone, even on the telephone
  • Patient, compassionate, helpful especially with older people. Even temperament, calm, always pleasant, unflappable. Has a knack for being able to turn a frown into a smile
  • Committed, dedicated, a great teammate, pitches in without being asked, puts team accomplishments ahead of individual accomplishments
  • Accurate, detailed, gets things right, double checks their own work, makes very few mistakes
  • Owns it: accepts responsibility, credits others for successes and accepts responsibility for failures. Always finds a constructive way to solve a problem
  • Coachable, doesn’t get defensive, accepts feedback with a positive attitude. Always looking for ways to grow and improve
  • Reliable, dependable, doesn’t just arrive on time: often comes in a little early to make sure they’re prepared for the day; willing to stay late when there’s work that needs to be done

These statements also describe the people you’ll be working with in our office. It’s the kind of culture we’ve developed, and we’re absolutely committed to maintaining that culture. The person we hire has to be a great fit, and we’re prepared to wait until the perfect match comes along.

This isn’t just a job: it’s a commitment to a team, serving a real purpose, helping people stay connected with their loved ones and enjoy life.