That hearing loss can affect your brain has been verified in numerous studies. (Just take a look at some of our previous blog posts.) Hearing Aids, luckily, have been shown to be capable of helping you recover some of that cognitive ability.
We’re not claiming that you will become smarter just by using hearing aids. But there’s some compelling research that suggests cognitive ability can be improved by wearing hearing aids lowering your risk for anxiety, depression, and dementia.
You Do a Lot of Hearing With Your Brain
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. It’s the brain’s job to transform sound vibrations into perceptible sound information. So as your hearing diminishes, the regions of your brain that translate those sounds suddenly have a lot less to do.
Changes in your brain (and hearing), coupled with other factors (like social solitude), can lead to the onset of mental health problems. In persons with untreated hearing loss, it’s not uncommon to observe an increase in the risks of depression, anxiety, and dementia.
Your essentially “treating” your hearing loss when you’re wearing hearing aids. That means:
- You’ll be less likely to isolate yourself socially. Conversations will be easier to understand and follow, so you’ll be more inclined to participate.
- Because you’ll be able to couple your hearing aids with routine screening and other treatment methods, you can help keep your hearing from becoming increasingly 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 will be.
Keeping You on Your Toes
Hearing aids can counter dementia, anxiety, and depression because they stimulate your brain and your social life.
- Cutting edge technology: Some current hearing aids, when someone falls, can instantly alert emergency services. This can minimize lasting complications and injuries even though it won’t stop the fall itself.
- Creating better awareness: Sometimes, you fall because you aren’t aware of your environment. Your situational awareness can be significantly hampered by hearing conditions. Identifying which direction sound is coming from can be as difficult as hearing sound in general. A fall or other accident can be the outcome.
- The health of your inner ear: Loss of hearing in and of itself will not result in inner ear injury. But there is frequently a common cause for both hearing loss and inner ear damage. So treating the one can help you treat the other, and in certain instances, a hearing aid is a part of that treatment regimen.
The fact is, you have a higher chance of avoiding a fall when you’re wearing hearing aids. A hearing aid boosts your physical health and your cognitive ability while carrying out the essential tasks of keeping you more mindful, more focused, and more dialed in.
Start Wearing Your Hearing Aid
We haven’t even yet discussed the basic hearing advantages of hearing aids. So when you take that amplified hearing, factor in the mental health advantages and physical well-being, it seems as if wearing these devices would be a simple decision (not something you need to overthink).
The problem is that many people don’t know they have hearing loss. It can be hard to recognize loss of hearing when it occurs slowly over time. That’s the reason why having a routine hearing assessment is important. Without hearing aids, loss of hearing can exacerbate a wide variety of other health concerns.
The correct hearing aid can, in part, slow the beginning of depression and dementia, while decreasing the occasions of certain physical injuries. Aside from helping your hearing, hearing aids offer a striking number of benefits.