That loss of hearing can affect your brain has been established in numerous studies. (Just have a look at some of our past blog posts.) Hearing Aids, luckily, have been proven to be able to help you recover some of that cognitive capacity.
We’re not saying that you will become smarter just by using hearing aids. But there’s some compelling research that suggests cognitive ability can be improved by using hearing aids lowering your risk for depression, dementia, and anxiety.
You Do a Lot of Hearing With Your Brain
To understand the connection between cognition and your ears, it’s important to know that a considerable portion of your hearing actually happens in your brain. That’s where the vibrations of the world are transformed into the sounds of your environment. So as your hearing wanes, the parts of your brain that decipher those sounds suddenly have a lot less to do.
Alterations in your brain (and hearing), along with other considerations (like social alienation), can lead to the beginning of mental health problems. In individuals with neglected hearing loss, it’s not unusual to notice an increase in the chances for anxiety, depression, and dementia.
Your effectively “treating” your hearing loss when you’re wearing hearing aids. That means:
- Social solitude will be less likely. Interactions will be easier to understand and follow, so you’ll be more likely to participate.
- Your brain will stay healthier if it continues working; your brain will be getting a more frequent workout in the parts responsible for hearing.
- You can stop your hearing from becoming worse by using hearing aids together with regular screening.
Staying Attentive
Hearing aids can lessen dementia, anxiety, and depression because they stimulate your brain and your social life.
- Building awareness: Sometimes, because you aren’t mindful of your surroundings, you may have a fall. Diminished ability to hear can substantially reduce your situational awareness. Not only can it be challenging to hear sounds, but it can also be a challenge to determine what direction sounds are originating from. A fall or other injury can be the result.
- New technology: Hearing aids have begun containing unique technology that can actually notify emergency contacts (or emergency services) when someone using the hearing aids experiences a fall. This might not prevent the fall to begin with, but it can lessen long-term injuries or complications caused by the fall.
- Inner ear health: Inner ear damage is not caused by loss of hearing alone. Notwithstanding, sometimes hearing loss and inner ear damage have a mutual cause. Sometimes, a hearing aid is a component of the treatment strategy for hearing loss which can also help inner ear damage.
In truth, you have a higher chance of avoiding a fall when you’re using hearing aids. A hearing aid keeps you more alert, more aware, and more tuned in, elevating cognitive attributes and physical health at the same time.
Stop Ignoring Your Hearing Aid
None of this has even yet addressed the fundamental hearing benefits of hearing aids. So when you take into consideration that amplified hearing, include the mental health benefits and physical well-being, it seems like using these devices should be an easy choice (not something you need to overthink).
The problem is that many people don’t know they have hearing loss. When your hearing goes away slowly, you might have a hard time recognizing it. That’s the reason it’s crucial to have your hearing checked routinely. Without hearing aids, hearing loss can exacerbate a wide variety of other health concerns.
The right hearing aid can, in part, slow the onset of depression and dementia, while reducing the occasions of certain physical incidents. Aside from helping your hearing, hearing aids provide a remarkable number of advantages.