There are many reasons people don’t wear their hearing aids when they need them. And while wearing a hearing aid won’t solve all of life’s problems, it can drastically improve many. Let’s take a closer look at some risks that can come along with not wearing your hearing aids when they are needed.
Cognitive Decline
A recent study has found that not wearing a hearing aid when it is needed can result in an increased risk of cognitive decline. This is an area of research that is still relatively new and a lot more work needs to be done to further understand the link between hearing loss and dementia.
However, the researchers did find that a majority of people who had been diagnosed with hearing loss and who used hearing aids for a period of time showed improved cognitive performance. This could be a result of the hearing aids helping improve their overall communication skills, allowing them to be more socially involved. Further data collection with increasing participant numbers and comparative ‘healthy aging’ ‘control’ groups will hopefully confirm whether remediation of hearing loss using hearing aids can delay or mitigate against the effects of cognitive decline.
Dementia
Having hearing loss can be frustrating, but it can also have severe consequences for older adults who suffer from dementia. Research has shown that people with mild, moderate, or severe hearing loss are much more likely to develop dementia than those with normal hearing. This is because people with hearing loss have to use a lot more of their brain power to understand what people are saying, as they struggle to hear, and that can lead to cognitive decline. Luckily, people who have hearing loss can correct this problem by wearing a hearing aid. This can help them to better understand what other people are saying and therefore reduce their risk of developing dementia.
Depression
It’s not uncommon for people with hearing loss to experience depression, especially when they can’t hear well. The symptoms can include long-lasting feelings of sadness, loss of appetite and low energy. The risk of depression can be mitigated by taking steps to treat the underlying issue, such as using hearing aids and regular hearing tests.
Several studies have found that people who use hearing aids to manage their hearing loss are less likely to experience depressive symptoms than those who don’t. In fact, one study in particular looked at a large sample of military veterans with mild to moderate hearing loss and found that they were less likely to experience depression a full year after getting their hearing aids.
More Damage To Ears
Hearing loss is caused by a number of things, including noise, aging, disease and heredity. The most common type of hearing loss is called presbycusis, which occurs gradually over time due to age-related changes in the ear or auditory nerve. Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is also a form of hearing loss, and it occurs when there are problems with the inner ear structures or along the pathways that connect to the brain. SNHL is more common among people older than 50 and affects about one in three. It can be temporary or permanent and is often associated with other medical issues, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
As such, not wearing a hearing aid when it is needed can be more damaging to the ears than not using them at all. This is because when you are not wearing a hearing aid, the auditory nerves receive less stimulation and that means that it will eventually wither. Taking the risk of not wearing a hearing aid when it is clearly needed is really just not worth it!