When your ears get tired, your brain gets confused

The Bar des Sciences is partnering with Brain Awareness Week to discuss hearing loss and neurocognitive disorders.

Given the rapid aging of the global population, the prevention of neurocognitive disorders is a major public health challenge. Identifying effective strategies to delay their onset is now a priority.

Among modifiable risk factors, hearing loss appears to be the most significant. Numerous scientific studies, reported in the mainstream media, emphasize the importance of early screening for hearing loss and highlight the close links between hearing impairment and cognitive decline.

Join us for a drink and a chat with experts in the field at this event, held in conjunction with Brain Awareness Week 2026 and organized by the Society for Neuroscience.

To discuss this topic, five experts from various fields will answer questions from the audience live:

• Germain Busto is a neuroscientist in the Department of Neurology at Montpellier University Hospital and at the Montpellier Institute of Neuroscience (INM – Inserm, Montpellier University Hospital, University of Montpellier). His research helps us better understand the mechanisms of memory and how they are impaired by certain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. 

• François Dejean is an audiologist at Audilab and holds a master’s degree in audiology and hearing disorders from the University of Montpellier. He also serves as secretary of the French Society of Audiology.

• Jean-Luc Puel is a professor at the University of Montpellier, head of the hearing research team, and former director of the Montpellier Institute of Neuroscience (INM – Inserm, University of Montpellier). He is also president of the National Hearing Association. His research focuses on the functioning of the inner ear in humans.

• Elodie Richard is an Inserm research fellow at the Molecular Mechanisms in Neurodegenerative Dementias laboratory (MMDN – Inserm, University of Montpellier, EPHE). Her research focuses on the cellular determinants of neurodegenerative and neurosensory processes (hearing and vision).

• Cédric Turpinat is a hospital physician and neurologist at the Memory, Resources, and Research Center Research CMRR–Montpellier University Hospital). His research contributes to our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases and their detection through the use of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

Free admission, subject to availability.

The program for Brain Awareness Week 2026, organized by the Society for Neuroscience, is available here.