The CHOICE trial enrolled 703 older adults in Shanghai who had both mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and moderate-to-severe hearing loss, randomizing them to hearing aids or hearing care education for 24 months. While hearing aids did not significantly reduce the rate of conversion to full dementia — the primary endpoint — a striking secondary finding emerged: 15% of the hearing aid group showed cognitive improvement (returning to normal CDR scores) versus only 2.4% in the control group, nearly a sixfold difference. The trial was well-powered and multisite, and no adverse events were reported. These results suggest that treating hearing loss in people with MCI may help reverse early cognitive decline, even if the two-year window was insufficient to demonstrate a dementia-prevention effect.
