The True Impact of Hearing Loss

Your hearing plays a larger role in your life than you may believe.

One of the most common conditions found in adults, hearing loss affects 30 million to 48 million Americans.

According to a 2012 report in Healthy Hearing Magazine 1 in 3 people 60 or older has a life-diminishing hearing loss, and, unfortunately, most of them wait 5 to 15 years before seeking help. The longer the delay, the more you miss of life and the harder it can be to adjust to hearing aids.

The author of the Healthy Hearing report, Debbie Clason, pointed out, “the sooner you get help for your hearing impairment, the easier it will be for your brain to use the auditory pathways it’s developed for processing sound.”

In a National Council on the Aging survey, two-thirds of adults with untreated hearing loss described their hearing aid purchasing reluctance with statements similar to “my hearing is not bad enough,” “I can get along without one,” “it would make me feel old,” or “I don’t like what others will think about me.”

However, the survey participants with hearing aids were more socially active and less likely to be depressed, worried, paranoid or insecure, and their family members and friends were even more likely than they were to have noticed these benefits.

Living with untreated hearing loss also lends itself to an increased risk of dementia. In a 2013 study from Dr. Frank R. Lin and the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health, it revealed that rates of cognitive decline and impairment were associated with the severity of an individual’s hearing loss.

Untreated hearing loss can have physical consequences as well, including excessive fatigue, stress, and headaches, which may result from trying so hard to hear and understand spoken language.

Also, working people with poor hearing are more likely to earn less than those with good hearing; they may even risk losing their jobs, especially if the work depends on good communication. For example, “If the boss says, ‘Don’t go over $15,000 on that contract,’ and the employee hears $50,000, there is a potential for problems,” the national register wrote.

The 2011 study by the Better Hearing Institute discovered that untreated hearing loss negatively impacted productivity, performance, and career success. It was also associated with, on average, a $30,000 income loss.

Income isn’t the only career-related downside of hearing loss, There are safety issues, too. Missing auditory signals like alarms, car horns, warning shouts, as well as the daily sounds such as a telephone, doorbell or alarm clock.

If you, or someone you love is living with untreated hearing loss, contact our locations in Clifton, Paramus, Pompton Lakes, Mahwah or Pompton Plains, today!

Reference: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/hearing-loss-costs-far-more-than-ability-to-hear/?_r=0