The Benefits of Treating Hearing Loss

The Benefits of Treating Hearing Loss

In Hearing Loss by Dr. Maya Berenson, AuD

Dr. Maya Berenson, AuD
Latest posts by Dr. Maya Berenson, AuD (see all)

Are you deciding if it’s worth it to invest in your hearing health? You may think that the cost of hearing aids isn’t worth it, and you might be deciding to wait a few more years before treating your hearing loss. Before you decide to face a life of poor hearing, consider a few of the benefits of treating hearing loss.

Hearing Loss Affects Everyone

According to the World Health Organization, more than 40 million Americans have hearing loss. While many seniors struggle to hear, millions of Americans of all ages face hearing loss. Noise induced hearing loss can affect people of any age, and our noisy city streets, loud jobsites, and excessively noisy leisure activities like music concerts, sports events, and even our personal listening devices, all take a toll on our hearing health. The American Academy of Audiology lists hearing loss among the top 5 chronic health conditions in the US, along with health concerns like arthritis and heart disease.

Treating Hearing Loss is Good for Your Brain

One of the benefits of treating hearing loss is your brain health. You may not realize it, but living with untreated hearing loss has some severe repercussions when it comes to your brain. Those with hearing loss have difficulty focusing on tasks, accomplishing goals quickly, and remembering clearly. Hearing loss can lead to rapid cognitive decline, and those with hearing loss experience a shrinkage in brain cells. Once your brain has experienced cell loss, there’s nothing you can do, so the best step you can take is treating your hearing loss as soon as possible and keeping your brain active and healthy.

Treating hearing loss will slow your cognitive decline, make it easier to understand speech, increase your ability to hear clearly, and even reduce your chances of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease.

Treating Hearing Loss Improves Relationships

One struggle many seniors face is poor relationships, and difficulty communicating with loved ones. When you’re struggling to hear, your relationships aren’t as deep and meaningful as they should be, and you spend far too much time asking people to repeat themselves and straining just to make out what’s been said. Those with hearing loss often face social isolation, since all the background noise in restaurants and public places makes following speech even harder, especially with a group of friends.

Hearing aids will help you focus on speech sounds, reduce your listening effort, and make it easy for you to follow conversations. In places with a lot of background noise your devices will reduce the distracting sounds, and help you focus on the voices you want to hear.

Treating Hearing Loss Will Reduce Tinnitus

If you’ve been struggling with tinnitus, treating hearing loss will help you manage your experience of tinnitus, and it won’t interfere with your life. Tinnitus, that annoying ringing or buzzing in your ears you only hear in the absence of other sounds, can sometimes drive you crazy. It disrupts your focus and your ability to sleep. Many of today’s hearing aids have tinnitus therapy programs that play white noise, pink noise, or other sounds that will mask your tinnitus and help you get through each day easily. These programs can also help you get the sleep you need to feel well rested every morning.

Treating Hearing Loss Will Improve your Quality of Life

Hearing aids will have a huge impact on your quality of life, and if you’ve been living with untreated hearing loss, you’re facing a lot of unnecessary stressors. You struggle with the relationships that matter the most, and you don’t feel safe when you go outside since you can’t localize sounds in your environment, or hear the sounds of traffic, dogs, or other people on the street or in your local park. You don’t feel confident at work, and you’ve been pulling away from your friends.

Don’t let hearing loss hold you back. Visit us at Palm Beach Hearing Associates and treat your hearing loss the best in hearing technology. You’ll be amazed at what hearing aids can do for you, and you’ll be able to interact with loved ones, hear all the sounds around you, and enjoy a great quality of life that will keep you happy and healthy for years to come.