Media releases

• How treating hearing loss can reduce dementia risk

  Wednesday, January 21, 2026 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY — January 21, 2026 — R0006

  With Alzheimer’s Awareness Month well underway, a Brock University neuroscientist is calling attention to a preventive step older adults can take to reduce their risk of developing dementia.

  Professor of Psychology Karen Campbell, Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging, says research suggests early treatment of age-related hearing loss can reduce an individual’s risk of developing dementia by seven per cent.

  Campbell says there are competing theories on the relationship between hearing loss and dementia.

  “It could be that the same neural loss contributing to your dementia diagnosis is also affecting the neural pathways from the ear to the brain and auditory cortex,” she says. “It could also be that constantly straining to hear results in having to exert more cognitive effort, which might lead to cognitive decline.”

  Campbell also points to social isolation, another risk factor for developing dementia, as a knock-on effect of hearing loss.

  “People who can’t hear properly may withdraw from social situations because it’s very awkward to keep asking people to repeat themselves,” she says. “But we also know that people who maintain social contact tend to be less likely to develop dementia.”

  Campbell says hearing aids are an accessible means of correcting sensory loss, not unlike eyeglasses, but many older adults don’t realize that using them could have far-reaching effects on their overall health and well-being.

  Although researchers have identified many modifiable risk factors for dementia, including physical inactivity, smoking, obesity and social isolation, treating hearing loss is ranked as one of the most impactful in reducing risk. It is also, according to Campbell, one of the easiest factors to address.

  “Other risk factors, like smoking or unhealthy eating, tend to start earlier in adulthood when people may not be thinking about later cognitive preservation,” she says. “But the need for a hearing aid usually happens in late mid-life or early older age, and it’s a relatively easy fix compared to other lifelong habits.”

  While some people may be hesitant to start using hearing aids due to their perceived association with getting older, Campbell says the benefits should be seriously considered.

  “I think it’s important that people realize that hearing aids help more than just your hearing,” she says. “Today’s hearing aids are very discreet, can sync with your phone via Bluetooth and handle background noise a lot better than they used to.”

  Campbell says reviewing the known risk factors and taking measures such as treating hearing loss, engaging in regular physical activity and staying socially involved can provide benefits for anyone concerned about cognitive health.

  “In dementia research, we talk about increasing the health span, or staying healthy for longer,” she says. “These modifiable risk factors are things we can change that really can reduce our potential for developing dementia and extend our health span.”

   

  Brock University Professor of Psychology Karen Campbell, Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging, is available for media interviews on this topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases

• How sports — like ski mountaineering — make the Olympic cut

  Monday, January 19, 2026 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE — January 19, 2026 — R0005

  When ski mountaineering makes its Winter Games debut next month, its arrival will reflect the decades of history, bureaucracy and regional influence that determine which sports the world sees on the Olympic stage. 

  Though it may only now be reaching the radar of sport enthusiasts across the globe, Brock University Assistant Professor of Sport Management Taylor McKee says the endurance sport, also known as “skimo,” is deeply rooted in European alpine culture.

  Ski mountaineering combines uphill climbing and downhill skiing, with athletes using specialized lightweight equipment to ascend snow-covered mountains before racing back down technical alpine terrain.  

  The sport, which emphasizes endurance and technical skill, is rooted in mountaineering tradition rather than stadium-based competition.  

  McKee says sports “very rarely” appear on the global stage without a robust history backing their climb.

  Whether a sport is included in the Olympics also depends largely on bureaucracy, he says, as a sport must have an international governing body, national federations and the capacity to organize international competition. 

  “It takes years to create an International Federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC),” he says. “While The IOC governs the Olympic Games, for the most part, the administration of the sport is really governed by their international federations.” 

  But meeting those formal requirements is only the starting point, especially for the Winter Olympics, which follow a different philosophy than the Summer Games.  

  The Winter Olympics did not begin as a global showcase, but as a Nordic alpine festival rooted in Western Europe. That legacy continues to shape today’s Olympic program.  

  “The Winter Games are still very rooted in Swiss, French and German tradition, it’s not Canadians or Americans setting the agenda,” says McKee. “If it involves skiing, mountaineering or alpinism in general, it’s going to get some Olympic attention because of the core values of the Winter Olympics themselves.” 

  That context helps explain why ski mountaineering fits naturally within the Winter Olympics ecosystem. Particularly, McKee says, when the Games are hosted in alpine regions as is the case this year in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. 

  “It’s not so much that ski mountaineering fever is taking over the world,” says McKee. “It’s very important to a core group of people who carry a lot of influence in the way that the Winter Olympic program is put together.”

  Those dynamics have become even more pronounced as the Olympics have evolved into a global media enterprise. Since 1984, McKee says, the Games have operated in what historians describe as the “rocket fuel era.”

  “Every square inch of it has a sponsor,” he says. “How have they succeeded in the last 40 years? Because of big business.” 

  The private sector’s involvement transformed the Olympics into a broadcast-driven event, where audience appeal now matters alongside athletic tradition.

  “It is very much about locating an audience,” says McKee. “‘Is this compelling content?’ is a question that’s being asked in IOC circles these days.” 

  Since the inception of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, sport inclusion has never been permanent.

  While ski mountaineering is on the Olympic program for 2026, there’s no telling what 2030 and beyond will hold, McKee says.

  Sports, he adds, routinely move in and out of the Games. Tennis, golf and lacrosse, for example, have all disappeared and returned over time.

  The fluidity challenges the idea that Olympic status defines legitimacy.   

  “To get in the Olympics is a bureaucratic question and a marketing question these days, as much as it is a question of sport legitimacy,” McKee says. 

  A sport’s absence often reveals regional priorities rather than participation or skill, he adds.  

  “If the sport doesn’t resonate in Austria, Germany or Switzerland, the path to the Winter Olympic program is a difficult one.”  

  McKee favours a broader understanding of what the Olympics represent in the modern era.  

  
  “It’s still an entertainment product,” he says. “We as a sporting public need to be less precious with what we consider to be an Olympic sport or not.” 

   

  Brock University Assistant Professor of Sport Management Taylor McKee is available for media interviews on this topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases