You can wind up in the hospital if you don’t correctly treat your hearing loss symptoms. You might think that this is a bit of an exaggeration. We’re used to thinking of hearing loss as not much more than an inconvenience – something that makes the news a little harder to hear or, at worst, makes you unwittingly agree to something you didn’t mean.
But new research is ringing alarm bells about the long-term health impacts of untreated hearing loss.
How is Your Health Linked to Hearing Loss?
At first glance, hearing loss doesn’t seem to have that much to do with other health indicators. But research conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that over time, hospital visits can increase by as much as 50% for someone with untreated hearing loss. The risk of severe health issues goes up the longer hearing loss remains untreated.
That’s a puzzling finding: what does hearing have to do with your overall health? The answer is challenging.
The Connection Between Mental Health And Hearing
Untreated hearing loss has been connected with a number of other health issues, like:
- You begin to lose your memory. In fact, your odds of developing dementia is twice as high with neglected hearing loss.
- An increase in depression and anxiety. Basically, the likelihood of depression and anxiety increases with hearing loss and that will lead to health problems both physical and mental.
- Balance balance issues. Hearing loss can make it more difficult to keep your balance and keep your situational awareness.
Hearing Aids Really Help
It’s not all gloom and doom, though. Far from it. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School research suggests that up to 75% of the mental decline connected to hearing loss can be halted by one simple solution: wearing a hearing aid.
The health hazards linked to hearing loss can be significantly mitigated by wearing hearing aids. According to the study, people who used hearing aids for only two weeks saw:
- Brain function improvements.
- Severe brain injury reductions.
- Awareness and balance improvements.
Over a period of about twenty years, Johns Hopkins accumulated and analyzed data from more than 77,000 individuals. And a critical part of maintaining your health lies in protecting your hearing which is a surprising outcome. Taking care of your hearing health also benefits your financial well-being, because being sick costs money.
Preserving Your Hearing And Your Health
Hearing loss is not exclusive to the aging process but it is a part of it. Hearing loss can occur at any age due to accidents, occupational hazards, or diseases.
However or whenever you lose your hearing, it’s very important to have it checked. Your health could depend on it.