Hearing loss is linked to cognitive decline
42sThis segment reveals a shocking and highly shareable connection between hearing loss and brain health, which is both alarming and actionable.
▶ Play ClipAI Summary
This episode of the Huberman Lab podcast features Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, chair of otolaryngology at Stanford, discussing how to protect and improve hearing. The episode highlights the link between mild hearing loss and cognitive decline, and offers practical advice, including the use of magnesium to mitigate hearing damage from loud events.
Chapters
[00:00]
Guest Introduction
Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, chair of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Stanford, discusses hearing protection and improvement.
[00:13]
Hearing Loss Prevalence
Mild hearing loss is occurring even in kids and adults of all ages, and it precedes cognitive loss, with the two being linked.
[00:27]
Magnesium for Hearing Protection
Taking magnesium (e.g., threonate, bisglycinate) before and ideally after a loud event can protect against hearing loss.
[00:59]
Identifying Too-Loud Environments
If you can hear what's in someone else's headphones, they are experiencing progressive hearing loss over time.
[01:12]
Mitigating Hearing Loss
Concerts and games are getting louder; the episode covers how to mitigate hearing loss without avoiding these events.
[01:24]
Episode Availability
The episode is available at hubermanlab.com, with timestamps for easy navigation across YouTube, Apple, Spotify, etc.
The episode emphasizes that hearing loss is a widespread issue linked to cognitive decline, but practical steps like magnesium supplementation can offer protection. It encourages proactive hearing health without avoiding enjoyable loud events.
Mentioned in this Video
Study Flashcards (3)
What is the link between mild hearing loss and cognitive decline?
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What is the link between mild hearing loss and cognitive decline?
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Mild hearing loss precedes cognitive loss, and the two are linked.
00:13
What supplement can protect against hearing loss from loud events?
medium
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What supplement can protect against hearing loss from loud events?
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Magnesium (e.g., threonate, bisglycinate) taken before and ideally after a loud event.
00:27
How can you tell if someone is experiencing hearing loss?
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How can you tell if someone is experiencing hearing loss?
easy
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If you can hear what's in someone else's headphones, they are experiencing progressive hearing loss.
00:59
💡 Key Takeaways
📊
Hearing Loss Precedes Cognitive Decline
This establishes a critical health link that motivates proactive hearing care.
00:13
🔧
Magnesium as a Protective Measure
Provides a practical, actionable tip for mitigating hearing damage.
00:27
💡
Headphone Test for Loudness
Offers a simple heuristic to identify harmful noise levels.
00:59Full Transcript
[00:00] Hey, everyone. The episode of the Huberman Lab podcast that's out now is with Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, and she is the chair of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. And we talk about ways to
[00:13] protect and improve your hearing, which for many of you might seem like kind of a detail, but it turns out that mild hearing loss is starting to occur even in kids and is certainly occurring in adults of all ages, and that mild hearing loss
[00:27] precedes cognitive loss. It takes a while, but the two things are certainly linked. During the episode, we talk about ways to protect your hearing. For instance, I learned and you will learn that taking magnesium before and ideally after a
[00:42] particularly loud event can protect you against hearing loss. Things like magnesium threonate, bisglycinate. We talk about the details of that. And of course, mechanism and how to use magnesium to protect against hearing loss. And we talk
[00:59] about, of course, what is too loud. It turns out that if you can hear what's in somebody else's headphones, they are experiencing hearing loss. Maybe not right away, but progressively over time, they are going to experience hearing loss. And
[01:12] about just general loudness in our environments. If you go to a game or a concert. We're not talking about avoiding those things, but how to mitigate the hearing loss that almost certainly will occur if you don't mitigate it. And
[01:24] believe it or not, concerts and games, et cetera, are all getting louder and louder. So it's a very important episode for everyone to hear. And we talk about very debilitating problem. You can find the episode by going to hubermanlab.com.
[01:39] It's linked out there in all formats, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, et cetera. It's timestamped, so you can navigate quickly to the topics most of interest to you. And as always, thank you for your interest in science.
