Sensory changes and dementia

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  Hearing and vision

  Taking care of your hearing and vision can help you reduce your risk of developing dementia.
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  Hallucinations and delusions

  Dementia can cause people to sense or believe things that aren’t real. Although they’re not real, they can feel real and sometimes very scary to the person experiencing them.
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  Hearing and Dementia: webinar

  In this webinar, Adult Specialist Audiologist Catherine Hart explains: how we hear; the warning signs and effects of untreated hearing loss; how hearing aids and other assistive devices can help people living with dementia to stay connected; tips for communicating with hard-of-hearing people; and how to have your hearing, or the hearing of a loved one, checked.
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  Understanding hallucinations and delusions: webinar

  In this webinar, Dementia Support Specialist Lucie Munzarova discusses how hallucinations and delusions can impact a person living with dementia and simple strategies that can support someone experiencing these symptoms. You will learn: what hallucinations and delusions are; how these may impact someone who is living with dementia; and strategies to support a person experiencing hallucinations and delusions.

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  Dementia and sensory changes

  A booklet about sensory changes from people living with dementia. this booklet will give the reader ideas on how to make the lives of people with dementia more pleasant, allowing them to be more socially included and no longer feeling alone.

• Talking Sense

  In each chapter, we briefly describe the senses, the impact of ageing and the impact of dementia. Then we address the sensory problems that can occur. We cover the implications of environmental design and interior finishes with some tips on self-management for the person with dementia and advice for families and care partners. Throughout the book we include the experiences of people living with dementia. Later in the book we provide details of support and advice organisations and there is a ‘Further reading’ section featuring references (endnotes) from throughout the book.
• Acoustics in aged care: Optimising environments for older people and people with dementia by Richard Pollock

  Publication Date: 2021

  The impact of noise on older people and people living with dementia is easily overlooked, but the acoustic environment can profoundly affect our quality of life and wellbeing. Acoustics in Aged Care is a practical guide to sound, noise and hearing that will help the reader understand the problem of acoustic intrusions. Written for anyone planning, designing, building homes or caring for older people, Acoustics in Aged Care is an important resource with practical strategies that can be taken to reduce intrusive noise at home or in the care environment.
• Sensory Changes and Dementia: Sense of Taste and Smell by Agnes Houston

  Publication Date: 2021

  When you are living with dementia, sometimes your sense of taste and/or smell can change. This booklet has been created alongside people who live with dementia offering personal experiences, hints and tips.

• Informal caregiving for people with dementia and hearing or vision impairment: A systematic review (2025)

  Caregivers of individuals with dementia often face the dual challenge of managing dementia alongside sensory impairments (hearing and/or vision loss). Despite the significant burden, this issue remains underexplored, with existing research largely overlooking the impact of sensory impairments on caregivers’ experiences. This systematic review examines the challenges and needs of caregivers managing both conditions.
  Ge, S., Trainum, K., Pei, Y., Chee, W., Song, Y., & Xie, B. (2025). Informal caregiving for people with dementia and hearing or vision impairment: A systematic review. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 21(8), e70525. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70525
• Sensory Integration: A Novel Approach for Healthy Ageing and Dementia Management (2024)

  Maneemai, O., Cujilan Alvarado, M. C., Calderon Intriago, L. G., Donoso Triviño, A. J., Franco Coffré, J. A., Pratico, D., Schwartz, K., Tesfaye, T., & Yamasaki, T. (2024). Sensory Integration: A Novel Approach for Healthy Ageing and Dementia Management. Brain sciences, 14(3), 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14030285
• Sensory Loss in Dementia Patients: Understanding the Impact (2023)

  Living with dementia poses numerous challenges, and one aspect that often goes unnoticed is the impact of sensory loss. While the effect of hearing and sight loss on individuals with dementia has received significant attention, the loss of taste and smell is another crucial aspect that profoundly affects their daily experiences.
• Sensory processing deficits and related cortical pathological changes in Alzheimer’s disease (2023)

  This literature review examines the sensory deficits and cortical pathological changes observed in visual, auditory, olfactory, and somatosensory systems in AD patients.
  Zhang, N. K., Zhang, S. K., Zhang, L. I., Tao, H. W., & Zhang, G. W. (2023). Sensory processing deficits and related cortical pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease. Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 15, 1213379. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1213379
• Understanding How Sensory Changes Experienced by Individuals with a Range of Age-Related Cognitive Changes Can Effect Technology Use (2022)

  Clinical researchers have identified sensory changes people with age-related cognitive changes, such as dementia and mild cognitive impairment, experience that are different from typical age-related sensory changes. This article focuses on sensory changes in the context of technology use.
  Dixon, E., Anderson, J., & Lazar, A. (2022). Understanding How Sensory Changes Experienced by Individuals with a Range of Age-Related Cognitive Changes Can Effect Technology Use. ACM transactions on accessible computing, 15, 10.1145/3511906. https://doi.org/10.1145/3511906

• Changes in perception and hallucinations / Dementia UK

  Printable resource on perception changes and hallucinations in dementia.
• Dementia and difficulty with sounds / Dementia UK

  Printable resource about how dementia can affect how a person interprets information, so even if they do not have problems hearing, making sense of sounds can be difficult.
• Sensory and perceptual changes / Forward with dementia

  One aspect of thinking affected by dementia is sensory perception. For some people, dementia damages the part of the brain that interprets information that comes from the senses.

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  Eye health and dementia topic guide
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  Oral health and dementia topic guide