When you’re making your list of New Year’s resolutions, be sure to put your hearing health near the top. Why? Research shows that when individuals address hearing loss, it improves their quality of life in many ways. Ignoring hearing loss and leaving it untreated can lead to these negative effects:
Brain Atrophy: Many individuals do not realize that hearing is actually a brain function. Your ears collect the sound, but it’s your brain that translates those random noises into recognizable sounds. Research indicates that when you have hearing loss, your brain reassigns the part devoted to hearing to other senses, such as vision and touch.
Risk of Falls: Untreated hearing loss affects the vestibular system and leads to an increased risk of falling. Research shows that even a mild case of hearing loss triples the risk of an accidental fall. That risk increases by 140% for every 10 decibels of hearing loss. Falls are the leading cause of accidental deaths for individuals over the age of 65.
Emotional Health: Your emotional health is at risk when you neglect your hearing health. A study by the National Council on Aging reported that in hearing impaired adults over the age of 50, those with untreated hearing loss were more likely to report depression, anxiety and paranoia, and less likely to participate in organized social activities than those with hearing aids.
So how can you avoid these pitfalls? The first step is to determine if you have hearing loss. Once that is established, a Doctor of Audiology can discuss your options for appropriate treatment, which may or may not include hearing aids.
Take the self-assessment hearing test below to learn if you can benefit from a comprehensive hearing evaluation:
- Do you find it difficult to follow a conversation in a noisy restaurant or crowded room?
- Do you feel that people are mumbling or not speaking clearly?
- Do you find it difficult to understand a speaker at a public meeting or religious service?
- Do you find yourself asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?
- Do you find men’s voices easier to understand than women’s?
- Do you have a hard time understanding speech on the phone?
- Do you feel embarrassed about your hearing difficulty when meeting new people?
- Do you need to turn up your TV volume to properly hear a program?
- Do you experience ringing or noises in your ears?
- Do you hear better with one ear than the other?
If you answered “yes” to three or more questions, your responses may suggest there is a hearing problem and you should consider a hearing evaluation. The Doctors of Audiology at the JFK Center for Audiology can evaluate your hearing loss and discuss treatment options. Call 732-321-7063, email the Center’s manager: Virginia.toth@hackensackmeridian.org or visit JFKAudiology.org
Improve your quality of life by hearing better. Make sure you don’t miss a sound.
