Why Should I Treat My Hearing Loss?
What are the long-term effects of ignoring your hearing loss? It’s worse than you think. At first hearing loss may be easy to ignore, especially if it’s gradual….you might think my ears are clogged today or it’ll get better when the allergy season is over. Maybe you think your wife is speaking too softly or that traffic was too loud to hear your phone on the street. Or maybe you keep telling yourself it just isn’t that bad. Whatever is keeping you from seeking treatment, you should know that not taking hearing loss seriously can have some seriously bad effects on your overall health.
Research links hearing loss with other negative health effects
Hearing loss is so easy to ignore, the average person waits seven years before they seek treatment. What does that kind of delay do to your overall health?
Research has linked hearing loss with:
- Anxiety and depression
- Dementia and cognitive decline
Studies have even shown an increased risk of accidents. Yet the most common effect of hearing loss is far more subtle. When you’re not completely part of the conversation, you feel left out. As time goes by you may even start to opt out of social gatherings because you can’t fully participate. Social isolation is not only a side effect of hearing loss, it can also amplify the other effects as social interaction is crucial for cognitive and mental health.
Reversing negative effects with hearing aids
While the negative health effects of hearing loss are scary, the good news is that treating hearing loss can reverse some of these issues. According to research at the University of Texas, participants who used hearing aids were able to significantly recover cognitive ability the longer they wore them. Other studies confirm that hearing aids help fight the side effects of hearing loss and are a good intervention for cognitive decline. Among the cognitive functions tested, hearing aids helped improve memory function, speech recognition, and speech processing.
Why suffer the effects of hearing loss? Get tested today and see what treatment options are available to you.