How Hearing Aids Help You Live Longer

Many people with hearing loss in Lansdale are hesitant to wear hearing aids, even when their audiologist recommends them to help treat their impairment. Hearing aids are considered the gold standard in hearing loss treatment for a reason: not only do they ease communication strain and allow you to participate more fully in the activities you enjoy, they also may help to extend your life!

Hearing Aid Benefits

Nine out of 10 individuals diagnosed with hearing loss in Lansdale will benefit from the use of hearing aids. It’s hard to fathom refusing treatment that has helped so many others around the world reconnect with friends and loved ones and enjoy a better quality of life, yet some refuse to consider hearing aids. Reasons vary – vanity, price, fear – but if you are experiencing hearing loss and haven’t gotten hearing aids, doing so could literally add years to your life. Here’s how:

• Hearing aids improve balance. When you wear hearing aids, your brain doesn’t have to work as hard to understand conversations. This allows it to free up valuable cognitive resources to assist in other key areas, such as maintaining balance. Few people realize just how cognitively demanding gait and balance are! Falls are a leading cause of injury and death in older Americans; research shows that even mild forms of hearing loss increase your risk of falling by 3x.
• Hearing aids help in emergency situations. People with poor hearing unwittingly put themselves at risk in emergency situations. Hearing loss most commonly affects high-frequency sounds, limiting your ability to hear emergency vehicle sirens, car horns, smoke detectors and other everday sounds in your environment designed to alert you to danger
• Hearing aids help prevent depression. Untreated hearing loss has been linked to feelings of anxiety, sadness and depression, especially in the older population. Hearing aids reduce your risk by at least 8 percent, according to the results of one study by the National Council on Aging. Other long-term global studies back up these findings.
• Hearing aids reduce social isolation. Many people with poor hearing withdraw socially, preferring to isolate themselves from others rather than engage in activities that will cause hearing strain and fatigue. Loneliness and isolation have been linked with higher mortality rates; wearing hearing aids has been shown to increase the likelihood you will engage in more frequent social activities.
• Hearing aids reduce your risk of dementia. The brain works hard to compensate for hearing loss, diverting cognitive resources away from important areas such as memory and cognition, increasing the likelihood you will develop dementia. Treating your impairment with hearing aids allows your brain to focus on these areas instead, delaying or preventing dementia and the possibility of Alzheimer’s disease.

If you’re experiencing hearing loss and haven’t taken steps to treat it yet, contacting your Lansdale audiologist for a hearing evaluation can help you live a longer, happier life!