Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that his growing hearing loss has increased his chances of acquiring dementia.
The Clarkson’s Farm star, 63, has said that his ‘body doesn’t really operate anymore,’ affecting his eyesight and balance.
However, he has stated that his ‘biggest’ concern is his hearing.
Jeremy has described how some people may believe he has’selective hearing,’ and how he has received ‘unkind’ comments and reactions when he has asked individuals to repeat themselves over the years.
‘This is weird. If you are mildly inconvenienced by someone in a wheelchair, you don’t swear at them and shove them down the nearest flight of stairs. You see they have a disability and make allowances. So why the spittle-infused rage when I cup my hand to my ear and say: “I’m sorry, what was that you said?”,’ he wrote in his column for The Sunday Times.
After dealing with this difficulty for the past 12 years, Jeremy claims he has learned to ‘cope’ with it; nonetheless, he was just informed that his hearing may put him at a higher risk of dementia.
‘I was told after my most recent medical that hearing loss will double the chance of me catching dementia. Maybe it’s already happening. That would explain why I can never find my spectacles,’ he wrote.
‘I decided therefore to seek medical help,’ he added.
Since that appointment, Jeremy has now undertaken further tests and is now using hearing aids.
‘They’re very snazzy and extremely clever. At drinks parties they will automatically dial down the background twaddle. I can also Bluetooth them to my phone, and while I haven’t read the instruction book yet (and never will), I bet you any money I will be able to program them to mute certain sounds,’ he explained.
According to the NHS, if you have untreated minor hearing loss, your chance of developing dementia nearly doubles.
The risk triples with moderate hearing loss, and patients with severe untreated hearing loss are five times more likely to acquire dementia.
It is unclear why there is a relationship between dementia and hearing loss, but wearing hearing aids earlier may help minimise the risk.
Jeremy also said earlier this year that his GP had warned him to ‘stop immediately’ due to worries of a ‘agonising early death’ due to his lifetime smoking habit.
While he ‘bit the bullet’ and had cut down on his ’40-a-day habit’ six years ago by starting to use nicotine gum, Jeremy wrote in his column for The Sun that his doctor had said it was ‘causing a worrying rise in my blood pressure’.
It followed the former Top Gear presenter’s hospitalisation in 2017 for pneumonia while on vacation in Mallorca.
Jeremy calculated that he would have smoked roughly 630,000 cigarettes in his 43 years of heavy smoking.
Clarkson’s Farm is streaming on Prime Video.
