For someone with dementia, sounds often seem louder or more overwhelming than they actually are because of changes in how their brain and ears process sound. Dementia affects the nervous system, including the parts that help us hear and understand noises. As neurons deteriorate with dementia, the delicate connections between ear cells and brain cells become damaged or lost. This damage means that even normal sounds can feel sharper or more intense because the brain struggles to filter out background noise properly.
Additionally, hearing loss is common in people with dementia and can make it harder for them to distinguish speech from other sounds. When hearing becomes less clear, the brain has to work much harder to interpret what it hears. This extra effort can make everyday noises feel louder or more confusing since the person’s sensory system is strained trying to make sense of incomplete sound signals.
The way dementia impacts both hearing ability and cognitive processing means that familiar environments might suddenly feel noisy or chaotic when they weren’t before. The loss of neural connections reduces redundancy in auditory pathways—once a connection is gone, it cannot be replaced—so small sounds may be amplified mentally as the brain tries to compensate for missing information.
In short, for someone with dementia, sound seems louder not necessarily because it actually is louder but because their ears send weaker signals while their brains struggle harder to interpret those signals accurately. This combination makes ordinary noises feel overwhelming and contributes to sensory overload often experienced by people living with this condition.
