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The elderly who experience hearing loss may be at a higher risk of corresponding losses in thinking skills, a new study published in the JAMA Archives of Internal Medicine said on Monday.

Cognitive problems developed 30% to 40% faster when hearing declined to 25 decibels - mild hearing loss. Estimates vary on the number of people in the U.S. who have some degree of hearing loss, but they range from one-third to two-thirds of adults ages 70 and older. 

 "That's when you begin noticing trouble hearing and understanding in settings like a busy restaurant,'' says lead author Frank Lin, an otologist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

"On average, individuals with hearing loss would require 7.7 years to decline by five points on the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) ... versus 10.9 years in individuals with normal hearing," the authors wrote.

"Our findings show how important it is for physicians to discuss hearing with their patients and be proactive in addressing hearing declines," added Lin.

A definitive link between hearing loss and accelerated cognitive decline would constitute a first step toward evaluation of interventions that might prevent the decline or slow the rate of decline.

The investigation included close to 2,000 men and women in their 70s and 80s who took part in an aging and health study that began in the late 1990s.

The men and women with hearing loss showed evidence of these declines 30% to 40% faster than the people with normal hearing. And those people with more hearing loss had steeper declines in mental function.