If You Can Still Hear, Is It OK to Put Off Getting Hearing Aids?

Hearing loss often starts subtly, earlier in life then we’d like to admit. It can start with the loss of subtle tones or consonants in words, creating a funny mix up of words during conversations. However, as hearing loss progresses, it can start to make it increasingly difficult to carry on conversations at work, with friends and even with those closest to you. Still, you can hear basic conversation—it’s just harder and confusion becomes part of everyday interactions. So, people ask us this question often—if I can still hear, do I really need hearing aids?!

Undoing the Stigma of Hearing Aids

When people think of hearing aids, their mind goes to cumbersome devices of 20 years ago which were large, and prone to feedback. Today, hearing aids have come a long way, becoming more stylish, powerful, nuanced, and offering options which are incredibly discrete. Still, many may be reluctant to start a chapter of their life with hearing aids due to stigmas around these supportive devices. People fear that wearing hearing aids will make them seem old, weak, or disabled. In truth, not wearing hearing aids will most likely project these types of stigmas much clearer than wearing them. Hearing aids give you the tools to amplify the specific sounds you struggle to hear so you can communicate with loved ones with confidence, while simultaneously helping us to be more aware in our environment.

The Dangers of Putting Off Hearing Aids

Untreated hearing loss is much more serious than many people realize. It not only makes it hard to communicate but the health effects reverberate across your entire life, affecting emotional health, physical health, and even cognitive function.

Hearing Loss and Emotional Health

Most cases of hearing loss are sensorineural, meaning that they are irreversible. When we strain to hear over years, minor mix ups and confusion during conversation starts to build up. It can start to build rifts between you and the people across your life, in professional settings, affecting your ability to excel in the workplace. With friends and family these communication difficulties can build up as well causing rifts in relationships. This can lead to feelings of loneliness, even when surrounded by the people you love the most. Feelings of depression, social anxiety and social isolation are common. However, when you commit to wearing hearing aids earlier, before communication issues start to compile, you have a chance of maintaining the health of relationships in your life for years to come.

Hearing Loss and Cognitive Health

We collect sound information with our ears, but sound must reach past our inner ear to our brain for sounds to be heard. Our ears achieve this via tiny hairlike cells called stereocilia which convert sounds from waves into electrical impulses the brain can interpret. Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when some stereocilia cells become damaged or destroyed blocking some tones or pitches from reaching the brain. Sensorineural hearing loss impact the brain’s ability to receive sounds, causing a higher cognitive load when interpreting conversation and everyday speech. This strain on the brain can cause us to feel exhausted even after a minor social interaction. As our brain experiences increasing levels of auditory deprivation, it can cause some brain cells which were devoted to hearing certain tones to become depleted. This can lead to brain atrophy and puts us at a higher risk for dementia at an earlier age.

The Physical Impact of Hearing Loss 

Hearing loss not only impacts our ability to follow conversation but is a sense which connects us to our surroundings. As hearing loss progresses, we become less likely to respond in a timely manner to warning sounds that would help us to avoid accidents. In fact, people with untreated hearing loss are twice as likely to suffer accidents or falls which lead to hospitalization in comparison to those with normal hearing or who are actively using hearing aids.

Treating Hearing Loss Early

The early clues of hearing loss are not always obvious. For this reason, we encourage you to be proactive. If you are at a higher risk for hearing loss, we recommend scheduling annual hearing exams to detect a hearing loss before it can progress into a larger issue. Contact us today to stay on top of your hearing health!