Forty-eight million individuals are suffering from hearing loss across the country. Of those, only 20% regularly wear hearing aids. Living with untreated hearing loss can do more harm than initially thought, and in all facets of their lives, those with the condition face roadblocks. On the flip side, those who chose to treat their hearing loss with hearing aids have better physical health, career achievement, and mental wellbeing than those who do not.
Here are some of the main advantages of treating hearing loss.
Better communication
The connection between hearing loss and communication isn’t difficult to see. It becomes hard to follow conversations when you’re not able to hear clearly. You’ve got to ask people to repeat themselves because even though your loved one repeats a sentence three times, you still can’t hear what they’ve said. Hearing loss treatment will help you reconnect with those you love, allowing you to repair those relationships that have deteriorated due to your compromised hearing.
Better emotional health
The emotional benefits of hearing loss are tremendous. Any hearing loss can make you feel isolated from your sense of self and influence how you think about yourself and feel about yourself.
As hearing loss treatment can strengthen your sense of wellbeing, it naturally increases your capacity and motivation to communicate with friends and loved ones. People wearing hearing aids to correct hearing loss often enjoy a higher quality of life than those who let their hearing loss go untreated.
Better earning power
Addressing your possible hearing loss indicates that you are prepared to face problems and prepare to do what it takes to continue to be a valuable team member.
Research by the Better Hearing Institute found that hearing loss can be a significant obstacle to overall career achievement and lifetime earnings and can cost upwards of $30,000 annually in lost income. But the same study also showed that for adults with mild hearing loss, the use of hearing aids would minimize the risk of income loss by 90-100 percent and by 65-77 percent for adults with moderate to severe hearing impairment.
Slow cognitive decline
Scientists are now finding a strong link between untreated hearing loss and cognitive impairment, rooted in the way our mind is affected by hearing loss.
Your body and mind are forced to work harder when trying to understand speech with hearing loss. Your brain needs to use additional resources to fill in the blanks left by hearing loss, much like trying to complete a crossword puzzle with only half the answers. The result is slower and less efficient sound processing, all while consuming more mental energy and cognitive resources.
As hearing loss worsens, the cognitive burden that arises with untreated hearing loss may become more noticeable. This connects unaddressed hearing loss to cognitive disorders such as dementia. In comparison, hearing loss treatment helps to relieve the burden imposed on cognitive activities by hearing loss. Recent studies have found that hearing aids could slow down cognitive decline by as much as 75%!
Less mental fatigue
You may not realize it, but did you know that exhaustion is a hearing loss side-effect? Your brain and hearing are closely related, as we have stated above. Struggling to listen makes it even harder for your brain to work to hear the sounds around you. In reality, this extra tax on your brain will leave you feeling drained. Using hearing aids reduces this additional load when you are following conversations in noisy environments, leaving you feeling less stressed and more energized.
Improved physical independence
The better you hear, the more your surroundings are more tuned to you. Your ability to detect sounds such as incoming traffic and noises around you can be impaired by even slight hearing loss. Likewise, hearing loss can lead to balance issues, which can lead to an increase in falls. Treating your hearing will therefore reduce your likelihood of falls.
Please contact our hearing professionals today if you would like more details of hearing aids that might be ideal for your lifestyle. Contact us today to set up an appointment!