Hearing Aids Keep You Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy

Hearing Aids Keep You Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy

Dr. Kevin H. Ivory

Dr. Kevin H. Ivory

Latest posts by Dr. Kevin H. Ivory (see all)

The average adult in the U.S. waits five to seven years before seeking help with their hearing loss, the sooner we do this the better, as hearing aids are one of the best investments toward a better future.

Learning that you have hearing loss can be difficult to accept, especially later in life. It may be daunting to change your lifestyle and work on how to hear better again, but you can live a happier, healthier, and wealthier life by treating your condition with hearing aids.

Let’s look at these benefits in more detail.

Hearing aids keep you happy

There’s plenty of advice out there on how to be happy, but most of it will include the importance of maintaining relationships with friends, family and looser ties such as co-workers. No man is an island, we all need social connections.

Untreated hearing loss can have a detrimental impact on a person’s social life, according to a new report from the Hear IT Foundation. Far from simply ‘missing out’ on the best parties, a loss of hearing can lead to solitude, social isolation, and even depression.

Another study released in the American Academy of Audiology Journal, however, discovered that wearing hearing aids could enhance social, mental and psychological health. By being able to more effectively communicate with those you care about, you can build stronger connections that we all need for life satisfaction.

Hearing aids keep you healthy

Hearing loss is directly linked to falling accidents and dementia.

How are we more likely to fall with hearing loss? Hearing loss makes information processing more difficult for the brain. When we are unable to understand others in conversation, the brain is forced to “fill in the blanks” with possible meanings. It takes more time and effort to reconstruct sound and speech mentally. Thus the brain reorganizes itself to prioritise sound processing.

This draws attention away from other duties the brain is responsible for, including balance and coordination. This results in an increased rate of accidents and falling injuries.

Also associated with brain strain is an increased risk of dementia. A hallmark of dementia is a significant cognitive decline, exacerbated by the mental stresses of hearing loss and attempting to understand sound at the expense of other cognitive abilities.

Although these conditions may seem unsurmountable, it was found that treating hearing loss with hearing aids seems to lead to improved balance, as evidenced in a study by the University of Washington in 2014. With regards to dementia, a growing number of studies have suggested that hearing aids could slow acceleration of cognitive decline, which in turn reduces the chances of the early onset of dementia.

Hearing aids keep you wealthy

In addition to making social interaction a challenge, untreated hearing loss can cost substantial sums of money to those affected. According to a Better Hearing Institute study, those with untreated hearing loss earned less than those who wore hearing aids by an average of $20,000 annually. It may also lead the individual being less employable.

However, these disadvantages are substantially mitigated for those using hearing aids. In fact, hearing aid users’ income is also almost equal to those as without hearing loss.
Hearing aids have been shown to reduce loss of income by 90%-100% for those with mild hearing loss and from 65%-77% for people with severe to moderate hearing loss.

Although they are an investment, hearing aids deliver satisfaction. In a separate study by the Better Hearing Institute, over 91% of those who purchased hearing aids were content with their decision and the same amount would recommend hearing aids to a friend with hearing loss. Hearing aids provide this satisfaction precisely because they help keep the wearer happier, healthier and wealthier. Isn’t it time you benefited too?

La Canada Hearing

We recommend that you be proactive and have a hearing evaluation as soon as you notice a change in your hearing. As well as early diagnosis, you should use hearing aids as soon as a diagnosis is made in order to best reduce the long-term consequences of hearing loss. There are so many benefits to wearing hearing aids, and we can’t wait to show them to you at La Canada Hearing. Contact us today to set up an appointment.