You can wind up in the hospital if you don’t correctly treat your hearing loss symptoms. You might think that this is somewhat of an exaggeration. We’re used to thinking of hearing loss as little more than a hassle – something that makes the news a bit more difficult to hear or, at worst, makes you unwittingly agree to something you didn’t mean.
But current research is ringing alarm bells about the long-term health effects of neglected hearing loss.
What Does Hearing Loss Have to do With Your Health?
Hearing loss doesn’t, at first glance, seem as if it has very much of a link to other health concerns. But research carried out by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that over time, visits to the hospital can increase by up to 50% for somebody with untreated hearing loss. The longer the hearing loss goes untreated, the more significant the health troubles become.
That’s a puzzling finding: what does hearing have to do with your overall health? That question can have a complicated answer.
Hearing Health And Mental Health
Untreated hearing loss has been linked to a number of other health problems, like:
- Memory can start to fail. As a matter of fact, your odds of getting dementia double with neglected hearing loss.
- Loss of balance. Hearing loss can make it harder to keep your balance and keep your situational focus.
- An increase in depression and anxiety. Basically, the chance of depression and anxiety increases with hearing loss and that will lead to health issues both physical and mental.
Hearing Aids Really Help
There’s some good news though. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research reveals that up to 75% of the cognitive decline linked to hearing loss can be halted by one basic solution: using a hearing aid.
The health risks linked to hearing loss can be significantly reduced by using hearing aids. According to the study, individuals who wore hearing aids for just two weeks saw:
- Reductions in severe brain injuries.
- Improvements in balance and awareness.
- Improvements in brain function.
The team from Johns Hopkins studied data from 77,000 patients collected over around two decades. And what they found is surprisingly simple: protecting your hearing is essential to preserving your health. Taking care of your hearing health also helps your finances, because being sick costs money.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is a perfectly typical part of the aging process, although it’s not exclusive to aging. Because of accidents, disease, and occupational hazards, hearing loss can develop at any age.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s extremely important to address it. Otherwise, your health could be negatively impacted.
