Even when it’s somewhat mild, hearing loss can have a big impact on your life. The way you interact with friends, coworkers, and loved ones can change dramatically. It can become a challenge to complete daily activities like going shopping. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be all doom and gloom. If you use a well calibrated hearing aid, it can make a huge difference.
Hearing aids improve your ability to hear, and that’s typically how most people think of them. And that’s not untrue. But how do hearing aids enhance quality of life? Just how far do the advantages of hearing aids go?
The top ten reasons to get hearing aids
It’s sort of fascinating, isn’t it, how we can so frequently come up with top ten lists for everything? When you got up today, did you think you’d be reading a top ten list about hearing aids? Well, maybe you did if you’ve been dealing with your hearing loss for a while.
So here are the top ten advantages of using hearing aids.
1. Your relationships will get better
For any relationship to be strong, strong communication is essential. But when you have untreated hearing loss, communication can be challenging. But when you use hearing aids, you’ll be capable of hearing the whole conversation without losing anything. You’ll be able to follow along with the conversation and get the whole story.
You won’t be resentful and feel excluded from conversations. So you will have an improvement in your relationships with family members, friends, and colleagues. There is a strong link between relationships and hearing aids!
2. You’ll have more independence
Shopping at the supermarket or going to a restaurant when you’re dealing with neglected hearing loss can be an ordeal. When you can’t hear all that well, communicating with cashiers and wait staff can be tricky. But with a pair of hearing aids, the entire process quickly becomes a lot easier. You’ll have much more independence when you navigate the world around you.
Driving will also be less hazardous. That’s because your hearing aids will improve your all-around situational awareness (more on that in a bit). You won’t be as anxious about doing things by yourself when you can hear the world more clearly.
3. You might make more money
Think about this hypothetical scenario: if you’re attending a meeting at work and miss a lot of what’s discussed, you may not execute your job adequately. This can result in decreased job opportunities and being passed-up for promotions.
When you’re wearing precisely tuned hearing aids, you will be less exhausted from straining to hear, and following along with those meetings will be much easier. By doing this you can have an opportunity to boost your income by increasing your ability to focus on work.
4. You’ll have diminished tinnitus symptoms
Tinnitus is that ringing or buzzing in the ear that most of us have experienced occasionally. When you suffer from hearing loss, tinnitus can often be experienced much more intensely (there are a host of explanations for this, sometimes the tinnitus is only relatively noisier because everything else is so quiet, for example).
Many people report that their tinnitus symptoms decrease when they use a hearing aid. The louder overall external sound supplied by the hearing aid might be, in some cases, simply drowning out the tinnitus symptoms. But relief is relief.
5. Lower chance of mental decline
There is a solid link between cognitive decline and hearing impairment. For example, neglected hearing loss can seriously raise your chance of developing dementia. There are numerous hypotheses about why this might be, but the bottom line is that managing your hearing loss seems to help! That’s why it isn’t a good idea to forget to put in your hearing aid. You might be giving your brain a better chance of remaining healthy longer.
6. Music can once again be enjoyed
When you have hearing loss music is more difficult to hear clearly. That’s because one frequency of sound normally goes before the others. For example, you may be unable to hear low frequencies. As a result, the song you used to enjoy might just sound… strange.
You will be able to appreciate music again with your hearing aids filling in the missing sound. You’ll hear all of the frequencies and your music won’t sound so garbled. It can be an amazing relief to hear your favorite band again.
7. You’ll get an increase in confidence
Being able to hear better and interact more thoroughly will give you a boost of confidence. And confidence is a great thing.
We’re not suggesting that you shouldn’t be confident just because you deal with hearing loss. We’re simply saying that you might find yourself having a hard time interacting with others, particularly if your hearing loss is new.
Those interactions can become easier again when you use hearing aids. And when that happens, confidence will grow.
8. You’ll have more vigor
Your brain is most likely working overtime if your hearing loss is gradually advancing. That’s because your brain doesn’t know your ears aren’t working correctly, so it’s continuously trying to fill in the audio holes that your hearing impairment has created. That’s hard work. And so, your brain is under constant strain.
Your brain gets to recharge and unwind when you use a hearing aid. It won’t need to work so hard. Which means you won’t feel so consistently exhausted and depleted. You’ll have more energy to do the things you love to do!
9. You’ll be safer and more mindful of your environment
You may not have adjusted to your hearing loss, particularly if it’s new. You’re used to hearing oncoming traffic before you step out into the road. You’re accustomed to hearing the emergency siren before you look in the rearview mirror.
If your hearing loss is new, or you aren’t aware of it, you might assume that some scenarios are safe when they actually aren’t. That can put you in some really dangerous scenarios.
This lost awareness will be restored by using hearing aids. So you’ll be capable of making smarter, safer choices.
10. You will set a good example!
The one thing that can be even harder than change is personal growth. You’re admitting that things aren’t working effectively now when you invest in a hearing aid. But you’re bettering yourself as well.
There’s nothing wrong with that! We should all strive for this type of thing, right? So you’re becoming a role model and a positive example when you use your hearing aids. (It’s fine, you can blush a bit, you deserve it.)
Have your hearing tested as soon as you can
When you use hearing aids you will hear better and that’s the primary benefit. That one’s obvious. But there are lots of benefits to using hearing aids. This top ten list is by no means complete.
Your top ten list might look a little different. Making an appointment with us for a hearing test is the first step no matter what advantages you look forward to.