Voice!

September 26th, 2026| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Your voice. And dementia. They are connected. Saith researchers from Drexel in “Voice Disorders as Early Biomarkers of Cognitive Decline,” published recently in the Journal of Voice.

833,000 adults over 50 were studied. People who had been diagnosed with both voice and hearing issues had about double the risk of developing cognitive impairment or dementia, compared with a control group of people with neither diagnosis. Coming in second for risk were those with a voice disorder but no hearing loss; ranked third were those with only hearing loss.

Considering that voice disorders affect roughly 18 million U.S. adults annually means this is significant and troubling.

Prof. Robert Sataloff, Chair of ENT at Drexel, and senior author on the publication:

Any person who doesn’t have a clear, reasonably loud voice that’s sustainable for as long as [they] need to speak has a voice abnormality. This could sound strained, choppy, gurgly or shrill, but it also could just involve shifts in pitch that occur suddenly or involuntarily. A variety of issues can underlie these vocal problems, including nodules, cysts, scars and inflammation caused by, for instance, vocal strain, smoking or acid reflux. As we age, we can also lose tissue bulk, nerve endings and respiratory strength, or the power source of the voice, leading voices to become softer or breathier, or to develop a tremor.”

Folks don’t count those issues as worthy of treatment. In one 2023 survey, as many as 40 percent of people with a voice issue did not seek medical care for it.

The Drexel study provides a strong reason to do so.

Sataloff:

Voice disorders are independently tied to cognitive decline, regardless of hearing loss.”

Of course, one thing being “tied” to another isn’t proof that one is the cause of the other. And neither do we know if treating a voice disorder will reduce the risk of that decline. But still ….

As to what that link between voice and brain is, is speculative. Maybe it is because vocal problems tend to reduce social interaction which, in turn, increases one’s isolation. And that withdrawal from social settings is a reliable sign of increased dementia risk. Decreased speech, in itself, activates the brain less, too. And who knows, if the nerves affecting voice are affected, maybe so are parts of the brain.

Sataloff concluded:

When health care providers see somebody with hearing loss, they think about cognitive assessment. Now, when they see people with voices that don’t sound right, they should also be thinking of cognitive assessment.”

They should. And you should, too.

But don’t forget the most important voice of all, the only one worth paying absolute attention to:

The voice of Yahweh is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders—Yahweh upon great waters.
The voice of Yahweh in power,
the voice of Yahweh in majesty.
the voice of Yahweh breaks the cedars;
Yahweh thoroughly breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
And He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of Yahweh splits flames of fire.
The voice of Yahweh quakes the wilderness;
Yahweh quakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of Yahweh quakes the large trees
and strips the forests [bare].
And in His temple everyone says, “The glory
[of] Yahweh sits [enthroned] at the flood;
And Yahweh, King, sits [enthroned] forever.
Yahweh, strength to His people He gives;
Yahweh, He blesses His people with peace.”
Psalm 29:3–11

Now, that’s a voice worth listening to!

SOURCES (of ideas, numbers, and words): Journal of Voice; Study Finds