Session Preview
His October 8 session will challenge traditional dementia care models by positioning longitudinal hearing healthcare as a practical part of supporting connection, dignity and cognitive health in older adults.
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Session Thursday, October 8 • 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. EDT |
Venue Four Winds South Bend • Ribbon Town Center |
Topic Longitudinal hearing support for older adults at risk |
What if one of the most overlooked opportunities in dementia care begins with a better conversation about hearing? That question will take centre stage when Dr. Keith N. Darrow, PhD, CCC-A, speaks at Midwest Dementia Summit 2026: Escaping Tradition in South Bend, Indiana.
Dr. Darrow’s session, “Advancing Cognitive Health & Dementia Care Through Hearing Healthcare: Longitudinal Support for Older Adults at Risk,” is scheduled for Thursday, October 8, from 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. EDT. The summit runs October 6 to 8 at the Ribbon Town Conference and Event Center at Four Winds South Bend and brings together healthcare professionals, caregivers and community leaders ready to challenge outdated approaches to dementia support.
An event built to escape traditional care
Hosted by Alzheimer’s & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana, the 2026 Midwest Dementia Summit carries a deliberate theme: “Escaping Tradition.” The organisers describe a gathering focused on breaking free from outdated dementia care models and reimagining support that honours individuality, promotes dignity and helps people living with dementia thrive rather than merely exist.
That mission makes hearing healthcare a natural, yet still unconventional, subject for the programme. Hearing is sometimes treated as a separate sensory issue, addressed only when a person complains or communication becomes impossible. In person centred dementia care, however, access to sound and conversation affects nearly every interaction: understanding instructions, participating in activities, recognising familiar voices, maintaining relationships and expressing choices.
Dr. Darrow’s presentation will invite dementia care professionals to stop viewing hearing as a one time device decision and start seeing it as a longitudinal component of healthy ageing and ongoing support.
Why hearing belongs in the dementia care conversation
Age related hearing loss is common, frequently under recognised and highly treatable. The World Health Organization reports that more than one quarter of adults over age 60 experience disabling hearing loss. WHO’s 2026 dementia guidance also identifies hearing loss among modifiable risk factors and states that hearing aids may be offered as part of strategies to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
The relationship is not explained by a single mechanism. Hearing loss may increase the cognitive effort required to decode speech, leaving fewer mental resources available for memory and comprehension. Communication difficulty can contribute to withdrawal and social isolation. Reduced auditory input may also affect the neural systems that support listening. At the same time, hearing and cognitive change can share age related, vascular or neurological influences.
These connections matter, but they must be communicated responsibly. An association between hearing loss and dementia does not mean that hearing loss inevitably causes dementia, and hearing aids are not a cure for a progressive neurological disease. The practical message is more grounded: identifying and treating hearing difficulty can improve communication, participation and quality of life, and it may be especially relevant for older adults already at greater risk of cognitive decline.
What the ACHIEVE trial teaches us
The Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders, or ACHIEVE, trial is the largest randomised study to test whether a best practice hearing intervention could slow cognitive decline in older adults with untreated hearing loss. The full study population did not show a significant difference in three year cognitive change between the hearing intervention and health education groups.
A different picture emerged among participants recruited from a long running cardiovascular health cohort who entered the study with higher baseline risk. In that group, the hearing intervention was associated with an almost 50% reduction in the rate of cognitive decline over three years. A later secondary analysis reported the greatest benefit among participants in the highest predicted risk quartile.
The lesson is not that every person receives the same cognitive benefit. It is that risk profile matters, and that older adults with hearing loss and additional cognitive risk factors may have the most to gain from timely, comprehensive hearing care. The intervention also produced substantial and sustained improvements in self reported communication, a meaningful outcome regardless of its eventual effect on dementia incidence.
From a hearing aid transaction to longitudinal support
The phrase “longitudinal support” in Dr. Darrow’s session title is crucial. Traditional hearing care can be reduced to a test, a recommendation and a fitting. Older adults at risk of cognitive decline often need a more durable relationship, one that adapts as hearing, dexterity, vision, memory, living arrangements and caregiver involvement change.
Longitudinal care begins with a comprehensive assessment and a clear understanding of the person’s daily communication needs. It continues through technology selection, verification, orientation, counselling and planned follow up. Over time, clinicians may need to simplify controls, update programmes, add assistive devices, retrain caregivers, address ear canal or device maintenance issues and reassess whether the original goals still matter.
This is not simply better audiology. It is better dementia support. A hearing device left in a drawer cannot improve communication. A perfectly programmed device may still fail if the user cannot insert it, remember its purpose or manage charging and cleaning. Treatment succeeds when the clinical plan fits the person’s abilities, environment and support network.
Communication access protects personhood
Dementia care often speaks about dignity, autonomy and personhood. Hearing access helps make those values practical. A person cannot participate meaningfully in a care plan discussion if they cannot hear the questions. They may appear confused when they have missed part of a sentence, seem uncooperative when instructions were unclear or withdraw from an activity because following conversation has become exhausting.
These situations can be misread as cognitive or behavioural decline. Improving the listening environment, reducing background noise, gaining attention before speaking, using clear visual cues, checking comprehension and ensuring hearing technology is functioning, can change the interaction immediately. The goal is not to deny cognitive impairment. It is to avoid adding preventable communication barriers to an already complex condition.
For families, restored access to conversation can mean more moments of recognition, humour, storytelling and connection. Those outcomes may not appear on a cognitive screening score, but they are central to quality of life.
A team approach for older adults at risk
No single profession owns cognitive health. Effective care may involve primary care physicians, geriatricians, neurologists, audiologists, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, social workers, direct care staff and family caregivers. Dr. Darrow’s session offers an opportunity to place hearing professionals more deliberately within that team.
Dementia care teams can screen for communication difficulty, ask whether hearing aids are used consistently and refer for audiological assessment when concerns emerge. Audiologists can recognise when a patient’s performance, history or behaviour warrants communication with the medical team. Both groups can share practical information with families and agree on goals that are observable in daily life.
Dr. Darrow’s perspective
Dr. Darrow brings a rare combination of neuroscience, clinical audiology and professional education to the summit. He earned his doctorate through the joint Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology programme in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, conducted auditory research at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and completed clinical fellowship experience at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
He is also a tenured professor, author, Certified Dementia Practitioner and clinical leader whose work focuses on connecting hearing treatment with brain health and healthy ageing. His strength as a presenter lies in translating complex science into actions that professionals and families can use, without losing the nuance of what research can and cannot yet prove.
At a summit dedicated to escaping tradition, that translation is valuable. The field does not need another isolated lecture about hearing aids. It needs a framework for helping older adults remain engaged over time and for integrating hearing care into the broader goals of dementia prevention, risk reduction and compassionate support.
What attendees can take back to their organisations
The most useful outcome of a conference session is a change in practice. Attendees may return home ready to add hearing questions to intake forms, establish referral relationships with local audiologists, review how staff communicate in noisy spaces or create a routine for checking hearing devices in residential care.
Leaders may also reconsider how they measure success. Better hearing care may show up as improved participation, fewer repeated instructions, more confident family conversations or greater involvement in meaningful activities. These person centred outcomes align closely with the summit’s call to create environments where people with dementia can thrive.
For hearing care practices, the session is a reminder that fitting technology is the beginning, not the end. Older adults at risk need monitoring, caregiver education and treatment plans designed for change. Building that continuity is how audiology earns a meaningful place in interdisciplinary dementia care.
Join the conversation in South Bend
Midwest Dementia Summit 2026 takes place October 6 to 8 at the Ribbon Town Conference and Event Center at Four Winds South Bend, 3000 Prairie Avenue. The programme includes keynote speakers, breakout sessions, Innovation Alley demonstrations, networking and experiences intended to challenge conventional thinking about elder and dementia care.
Escaping tradition does not require abandoning everything the field already knows. It means recognising the gaps between disciplines and building a more complete model around the person. By bringing hearing healthcare into the dementia care conversation, Dr. Darrow is helping close one of those gaps, and inviting attendees to reconsider what truly comprehensive support for older adults can look like.