목적: Dementia and cognitive impairment have been reported to be at an increased risk in patients with hearing loss. Accordingly, the WHO has identified hearing loss as one of the major risk factors for dementia in its Dementia Prevention Guidelines and Hearing Loss Management Report, recommending proactive hearing care and emphasizing the need for a public health response as the prevalence of hearing loss continues to rise among the global elderly population. However, while hearing loss is presumed to be a risk factor for dementia, the specific underlying mechanisms remain unclear, necessitating further research. In this study, we aim to investigate the relationship between dementia and hearing loss through preclinical experiments. 방법:A total of eight Alzheimer's transgenic mice (TG) and seven wild- type mice (WT), each weighing 20–25 g with intact tympanic membranes (TM), were used in this study. We compared the effects of hearing levels between the TG (16 ears) and WT (14 ears) groups. Auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE) were measured using a TDT hearing test system at 10 months of age. ABR was recorded at frequencies of 4, 8, 16, 24, and 32 kHz, while DPOAE was measured at frequencies of 12, 24, and 30 kHz to evaluate the results. 결과:The TG mice showed significantly different ABR results compared to WT mice at all frequencies. In ABR measurements, TG mice exhibited hearing thresholds of: click—76.9 ± 27.7 dB, 4 kHz—84.4 ± 17.1 dB, 8 kHz—82.5 ± 17.7 dB, 16 kHz—87.5 ± 14.4 dB, 24 kHz—91.9 ± 10.5 dB, and 32 kHz—91.9 ± 9.8 dB. In contrast, the ABR thresholds for WT mice were: click—38.6 ± 18.3 dB, 4 kHz—56.4 ± 17.1 dB, 8 kHz—57.9 ± 18.5 dB, 16 kHz—63.6 ± 14.5 dB, 24 kHz—62.1 ± 20.1 dB, and 32 kHz—64.3 ± 16.0 dB. A significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed across all frequency ranges. Similarly, DPOAE measurements showed results consistent with ABR. The hearing thresholds for TG mice were: 12 kHz—88.1 ± 13.8 dB, 24 kHz—88.1 ± 13.3 dB, and 30 kHz—81.6 ± 13.6 dB. In contrast, WT mice exhibited hearing thresholds of: 12 kHz—47.9 ± 22.9 dB, 24 kHz—60.7 ± 8.3 dB, and 30 kHz—61.8 ± 15.4 dB. DPOAE also showed a statistically significant difference at p < 0.05 across all frequencies. 결론:In vivo animal studies demonstrated significant hearing differences between Alzheimer's model animals and wild-type (WT) mice. Since hearing differences were observed in both ABR and DPOAE, it suggests that impairments occurred in both the auditory brain regions and cochlear function. While it remains unclear which region's functional decline occurs first, these findings suggest that hearing loss may contribute to the acceleration of Alzheimer's disease (AD).