Often times patients neglect their hearing health because loss of hearing happens so gradually that patients become accustomed to having impaired hearing. However, loss of hearing doesn’t just impact your ability to hear but will often lead to a several other health issue. Hearing impacts several other core functions of a person’s health and should not just be treated as an annoyance when people have to continuously repeat themselves or when they turn up the TV volume. Here are three ways your hearing health impact your overall health.
Cognitive Decline:
A John Hopkins Study tested 639 individuals hearing and categorized them into different buckets depending on the severity of their hearing loss. After 10 years the study observed how many of those same individuals had Dementia or Alzheimer’s. The study found that people with a severe hearing loss were nearly five times as likely of having dementia or Alzheimer as a person that had normal hearing.
Impact to Balance:
It is no surprise that our ears play a role in our balance. However recent research has shown that there is also a correlation between your hearing and balance. A study of Finnish twins showed that as hearing was impaired so too was persons balance and their likelihood to fall down. This study was able to control for various genetic factors since the participants in the study were twins. The risk of falling is
Mental Well Being:
It is no surprise that when patients start losing, they start to isolate themselves more as social interaction become more challenging when they are unable to understand the people they are conversing with. However, this self-imposed isolation can be detrimental to a patient’s mental health.
If you are a person who wants to evaluate their existing hearing health please schedule an appointment at Integral Audiology today!
