Over the years, hearing aids have had a stigma. If you use one, people might think of you as old. What is the result?
Countless people, both young and old, forgo hearing aids and suffer unnecessarily from hearing loss, which is actually linked to a number of health concerns. The numbers reinforce this: 30 million people in the United States dealing with hearing loss, yet only about 15 percent of that group has ever worn a hearing aid.
Additionally, the youth are suffering from hearing loss in greater numbers than ever before: a WHO report from 2015 forecasted that excessive use of headphones and overly loud concerts and festivals will cause over 1.1 billion teens and young adults to permanently injure their hearing.
Still, progressing technology and shifting attitudes have begun to frame hearing aids in a new light, and people are starting to look at them in a similar way they look at eye-glasses.
If You Need Hearing Aids, You Should Use Them, This Is Why
There are a ton of reasons why you should wear hearing aids, some of them obvious and some of them surprising.
Here are some of the most common reasons:
- You can decrease tinnitus symptoms
- One of the obvious reasons would be that you will be able to hear better
- You can listen to television and music at normal volumes
- Conversations will be a lot smoother
- You’ll increase your earning power
- You’ll give your brain a rest
- You can enjoy social activities and situations again
Do these sound like beneficial reasons to you? Some benefit can be gained by wearing hearing aids even for people with slight hearing loss.
What many people aren’t aware of is that hearing loss is connected to mental decline, mental health problems, and conditions like Alzheimers disease and dementia.
Studies point to several different reasons why this may happen, including that the brain gets overtaxed and overtired because it’s always striving to comprehend sounds. It’s possible that the brain cells shrink and die because they don’t get enough stimulus, or it may be due to the leading cause of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues which is social isolation.
By letting you hear words and sounds around you more clearly, hearing aids can help lessen these issues. Your brain won’t need to utilize additional resources and will be able to process sounds in a standard way, while you will start to enjoy conversations and social activities again because you will gain more confidence.
Hearing Aids Have Advanced in Technology
By now it should be obvious why people of all ages need to use hearing aids if they require them. Now it’s time to discover how hearing aids have progressed in the past few years.
If really think you would like one of those big over the ear hearing aids, you can still buy one. They also have progressed to the point that they can determine where sound is originating from and can filter out sound effectively. However, there are new and improved versions of hearing aids that are nearly invisible, yet pack quite a bit of technology to work with today’s digital environment.
Would you like to sync your hearing aid to your smartphone, tablet, television, or even your car’s GPS? Then you’re in luck since the majority of modern hearing aids have Bluetooth technology that permits them to sync with a variety of devices. There are even higher-end versions keep track of your physical health, stream music, and take calls for you. Hearing aids nowadays are designed to do more – just like your smartphone and smartwatch, smart hearing aids will come to be a must-have accessory for anyone suffering from hearing impairment. So now that you’re ready to manage your hearing loss and begin wearing a hearing aid, get in touch with us for an appointment and hearing assessment.