Blood biomarker may link Alzheimer's and hearing loss.
Researchers found a correlation between Alzheimer's disease plaques and hearing loss in mice, with the location of amyloid beta protein plaques being a critical factor. Plaques on the auditory brainstem impeded the area's ability to coordinate responses to sound, potentially explaining why some Alzheimer's patients experience auditory symptoms. This finding could offer a new approach to tracking Alzheimer's disease progression and inform diagnostic practices, as the location of plaques may be more important to hearing decline and could be a potential biomarker to track disease progression.