Multiple studies have verified that loss of hearing can have an influence on your brain. (Just take a look at some of our recent blog posts.) The good news is, it’s also been confirmed that you can recover some of that cognitive capacity through hearing aids.
This is not saying that hearing aids are in some way going to make you more intelligent. But there’s some compelling research that suggests cognitive ability can be increased by wearing hearing aids lowering your risk for anxiety, depression, and dementia.
Your Brain is in Charge of a Large Portion of Your Hearing
It’s important to recognize how big a part your brain plays in hearing if you are going to understand the link between cognition and your ears. That’s where the vibrations of the world are converted into the sounds of your environment. The parts of the brain that decipher sound will suddenly have less to do when hearing starts to diminish.
Alterations in your brain (and hearing), coupled with other considerations (such as social solitude), can result in the beginning of mental health issues. Depression, dementia, and anxiety are a lot more noticeable in individuals who have untreated hearing loss.
Your effectively “treating” your hearing loss when you’re wearing hearing aids. That means:
- Because you’ll be able to couple your hearing aids with routine monitoring and other treatment options, you can stop your hearing from getting progressively worse.
- The regions of your brain responsible for hearing will get a more consistent workout; the more your brain performs work, the healthier your brain stays.
- You’ll be less likely to isolate yourself socially. You will be more likely to participate with people if you can hear and understand interactions.
Staying Attentive
Hearing aids can lessen depression, anxiety, and dementia because they enhance your brain and your social life.
- Inner ear health: Inner ear injury is not caused by loss of hearing alone. But there is frequently a common cause for both loss of hearing and inner ear damage. Sometimes, a hearing aid is a component of the treatment program for loss of hearing which can also help inner ear injury.
- Creating greater awareness: At times, you fall because you aren’t aware of your surroundings. Your situational awareness can be severely hindered by hearing problems. Not only can it be hard to hear sounds, but it can also be a challenge to figure out which direction sounds are originating from. A fall or other injury can be the outcome.
- New technology: Some modern hearing aids, when someone has a fall, can instantly notify emergency services. This might not prevent the fall in the first place, but it can prevent long-lasting injuries or complications due to the fall.
Actually, you have a higher chance of avoiding a fall when you’re using hearing aids. A hearing aid boosts your physical health and cognitive capacity while carrying out the essential tasks of helping you stay more mindful, more alert, and more connected.
Stop Neglecting Your Hearing Aid
We haven’t even mentioned the fact that a hearing aid can also help you hear. So it seems like when you consider all of the benefits associated with using hearing aids, it’s a no brainer. (Pretty obvious).
The problem is that many people don’t know they have hearing loss. It can be challenging to identify loss of hearing when it arises slowly over time. That’s the reason why having a normal hearing exam is important. Without hearing aids, loss of hearing can worsen a wide variety of other health problems.
The ideal hearing aid can, in part, slow the onset of despair and dementia, while reducing the occasions of some physical incidents. Aside from helping your hearing, hearing aids offer a surprising number of advantages.