A new laboratory at the University of Montana (UM) has opened to study the link between hearing loss and brain function as people age. The Brain, Ear, and Aging Research (BEAR) Lab is located in the basement of Curry Health Center, where UM’s School of Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences operates.
The lab is directed by Dr. Anoop Basavanahalli Jagadeesh, an assistant professor who said he needed a dedicated space to teach students and expand research efforts. The facility includes two sound-treated suites where Dr. Jagadeesh and his students will conduct hearing tests along with electrophysiological and cognitive assessments to examine how aging impacts both hearing and mental processes.
Dr. Jagadeesh explained that his research centers on understanding how aging and hearing loss together affect brain function and mental health. According to him, about 60% of people over age 70 worldwide experience some degree of hearing loss. He noted that this often leads individuals to feel isolated from conversations and society.
“My line of research is on how as you grow older what are the consequences of that in terms of hearing and brain function and psychological well-being,” Dr. Jagadeesh said. “When you have aging and hearing loss combine that leads to cognition problems, which all leads to someone having a lower psychological well-being.”
Among those working in the BEAR Lab is Jadan Garner, a senior studying communicative sciences and disorders who was invited after taking one of Dr. Jagadeesh’s courses in aural rehabilitation.
“I’m so grateful for it,” Garner said. “It’s really wonderful to get that hands-on experience and get to see the textbook in action.”
Garner also works as a rehabilitation technician at Community Medical Center in Missoula with plans for a career helping elderly patients with speech therapy.
“I really want to work with the adult population, specifically with more elderly people,” Garner said. “That’s also why this BEAR Lab was so appealing to me because we look at how hearing ages. This gives me a neat perspective on that.”
During the fall semester, undergraduate assistants like Garner helped set up equipment by testing it among themselves. Beginning next year, Dr. Jagadeesh plans for real patients to visit the lab.
He aims to collaborate with Rocky Mountain Ear, Nose & Throat Center so their patients can undergo testing at BEAR Lab; he also plans partnerships with UM’s physical therapy program for research involving concussion patients’ hearing and balance functions.
“In individuals with concussions, there is a strong possibility that both hearing and balance mechanisms are affected due to their physical closeness and shared neural connections,” Dr. Jagadeesh said.
Dr. Jagadeesh holds degrees from All India Institute of Speech & Hearing in Mysuru, India—including bachelor’s through Ph.D.—and completed postdoctoral work at Northwestern University before joining UM in July 2024.
He described finding his interest in audiology early during college after meeting a child unable to speak due largely to undiagnosed hearing problems.
“That triggered my interest,” he said. “Someone was testing a child who could not speak at all. I was curious why that was happening. It turns out a child who cannot hear cannot speak. That stuck with me.”
As UM’s only dedicated audiology professor within its speech language pathology program, Dr. Jagadeesh expressed satisfaction sharing his expertise while adjusting to life in Montana—quite different from his home city in India.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I came to Montana because I come from a country where my city’s population is more than the whole state of Montana,” he said.“I had no expectations and no idea how Montana would be.The people here have been extraordinary.”
