Some seniors are loathe to don a hearing aid, worried that the devices will be a hassle or make them look old.

But that hearing aid might help them avoid dementia, a new study says.

People prescribed a hearing aid had a 33% lower risk of dementia, researchers reported Jan. 14 in the journal Neurology.

However, their findings weren’t cut-and-dried.

Researchers also found that hearing aid prescriptions had no impact on folks’ immediate performance on tests of memory, language and speed of thought.

“While we didn’t find a difference in cognitive scores, our study suggests that for older adults with hearing loss, using hearing aids may lower the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment, benefiting brain health,” senior researcher Joanne Ryan said in a news release. She’s head of biological neuropsychiatry and dementia research at Monash University in Australia.

Hearing loss has been established as a risk factor of cognitive decline and dementia, researchers said in background notes.

To see whether hearing aids can counter this risk, researchers tracked nearly 2,800 Australians with an average age of 75.

All participants had moderate hearing loss, defined as self-reported hearing problems, but had never used a hearing aid. None had dementia at the start of the study.

During the study, 664 people were prescribed hearing aids and 117 participants developed dementia.

Results showed that people prescribed hearing aids had a 5% risk of dementia compared to 8% for those without hearing aids — a 33% lower risk.

Hearing aid users also had a 15% lower risk of mild cognitive impairment, which precedes dementia. About 36% of people with hearing aids developed mild cognitive impairment, compared with 42% who didn’t use the devices.

The study also found that as people used their hearing aids more often, their risk of dementia declined accordingly.

Ryan said the fact that people had a lower risk of dementia but no difference in cognitive test scores might be explained by other factors.

“One factor could be that most study participants had good cognitive health when the study started, reducing the potential for improvement with hearing aids,” she said.

“Further studies are needed to understand the ways hearing aids may support memory, thinking and brain health overall,” Ryan concluded.