Several studies have proven that loss of hearing can have an impact on your brain. (Just take a look at some of our previous blog posts.) Luckily, it’s also been confirmed that you can regain some of that cognitive capacity by using hearing aids.
This is not to imply that hearing aids are somehow going to make you smarter. But there’s some compelling research that suggests hearing aids can increase cognitive abilities, lowering your risk for depression, dementia, and anxiety.
Your Brain is Responsible For a Significant Portion of Your Hearing
It’s essential to realize how large a part your brain plays in hearing if you are going to comprehend the connection between cognition and your ears. That’s where the vibrations of the world are transformed into the sounds of your environment. The parts of the brain that translate sound will suddenly have less to do when hearing starts to diminish.
In combination with other factors (such as social isolation), the changes in your brain (and hearing) can lead to the onset of certain mental health problems. In people with neglected hearing loss, it’s not unusual to observe an increase in the chances of depression, anxiety, and dementia.
Your effectively “treating” your hearing loss when you’re wearing hearing aids. That means:
- Social alienation won’t be as likely. You will be more likely to participate with people if you can hear and understand discussions.
- Because you’ll be able to couple your hearing aids with routine monitoring and other treatments, you can help keep your hearing from getting increasingly worse.
- The regions of your brain responsible for hearing will get regular workouts; the more your brain works, the healthier your brain will be.
Keeping You on Your Toes
Hearing aids can prevent dementia, anxiety, and depression because they stimulate your brain and your social life.
- Creating greater awareness: Occasionally, because you’re not aware of your environment, you could have a fall. Decreased hearing ability can drastically lessen your situational awareness. Figuring out which direction sound is originating from can be as difficult as hearing sound in general. Without treatment, this can end up resulting in a fall or injury.
- The health of your inner ear: Inner ear injury is not triggered by loss of hearing alone. But there is frequently a common cause for both loss of hearing and damage to the inner ear. So treating the one can help you treat the other, and in some cases, a hearing aid is a component of that treatment regimen.
- Modern technology: Some modern hearing aids, when a person has a fall, can instantly notify emergency services. This might not stop the fall in the first place, but it can prevent long-lasting injuries or complications caused by the fall.
Inevitably, when you’re wearing a hearing aid, you’re more likely to avoid a fall in the first place. A hearing aid helps you stay more alert, more mindful, and more tuned in, enhancing cognitive abilities and physical health at the same time.
Start Wearing Your Hearing Aid
We haven’t even yet discussed the fundamental hearing benefits of hearing aids. So it seems like when you consider all of the positive aspects linked to using hearing aids, it’s a no brainer. (not something you need to put your thinking cap on for).
The problem is that many people don’t know they have hearing loss. It can be challenging to recognize loss of hearing when it occurs slowly over time. That’s the reason it’s essential to get your hearing examined on a regular basis. Without hearing aids, hearing loss can worsen a number of of other health problems.
The correct hearing aid can, in part, slow the onset of despair and dementia, while lessening the occurrences of some physical incidents. Aside from helping your hearing, hearing aids provide a remarkable number of benefits.
