Are you surprised to learn that hearing loss is more than just your ears? Ears are the mechanisms of hearing, so the damage done to them due to aging, injury or illness is why someone can not hear, but did you know there’s more to it than that The loss of a person’s hearing bleeds into a number of other facets of their life. It is a dramatic change for somebody who has always been able to hear. Consider some ways that hearing loss has a profound effect on more than just the ears.
Earning Potential
A 2006 report published by the Australian company Access Economics states there’s a link between earning potential and hearing. They found that an individual with hearing loss will possibly make about 25 percent less than those that do hear, but why?
There are a lot of things that could impact earnings. Somebody who works without any hearing assistance device like a hearing aid may miss out on crucial information. They may appear for a company meeting at 4 if it was really at 2 pm, for instance. Employers tend to value those with astute attention to detail, and that’s a challenge when you can’t hear the specifics.
Work environments can be noisy and crazy, too. A individual with hearing loss can become confused with all that sound around them. They will struggle to speak on the telephone, to listen to clients and to understand what coworkers are saying because in a loud environment the desktop sounds like clacking keyboards or an air conditioner engine become pronounced.
Relationships
Some of the very same problems at work become an issue at home. Hearing loss has the potential to cause conflict, particularly when the individual with the problem continues to deny it. Little things such as saying “what” a lot during conversations and turning the TV up too loud irritate friends, relatives, and spouses.
They may attempt to intervene and encourage this individual to recognize their hearing loss, and that leads to friction, also. It is extremely common for someone with hearing loss to detach themselves and refuse to go out and spend some time with other people. They struggle to keep up with conversations, so that they so what the can to avoid them.
Mental Health Concerns
The issues at work and home take a toll on mental health over time. A 2014 study conducted by the U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders found a cause and effect relationship between hearing loss and melancholy. Their study indicates an increased risk of depression, particularly among girls and individuals under the age of 70. Their risk of depression goes from 5 percent to approximately 11 percent with hearing loss.
A second study by the Senior Research Group suggests that the chance of mental health problems including depression, anxiety and paranoia goes up when a person with hearing loss doesn’t use hearing aids. The study participants who didn’t wear hearing aids reported everything from feelings of despair to sudden fits of anger more frequently than those that did wear them.
Safety Issues
Security is always a concern for the hearing impaired. Most security systems, whether it is a smoke or carbon monoxide detector or a perimeter alert, work based on noise. They emit a high-frequency noise when there’s a danger. Even people with minor hearing loss can have difficulty hearing high pitched tones.
Personal security becomes an issue when a individual with hearing loss crosses the street or drives a car, too. Sound serves to signal problems like a car coming down the street or a horn honking.
Cognitive Functioning
Medical science has made a link between cognitive decline and hearing loss. It isn’t clear why people with hearing loss have a higher risk of dementia. The current theory is that the mind struggles to hear and to compensate, it robs other vital functions like memory.
A 2011 study conducted by Johns Hopkins Medicine discovered that even someone with minor hearing loss is twice as likely to develop dementia. Moderate hearing loss increases the risk by three times and an individual with severe hearing impairment is five times more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Hearing health is just one factor in memory loss conditions, but it’s an important one.
When a person has hearing loss, it’s true there is likely something wrong with their ears, but that’s just where it starts. The good news is that getting help in the kind of hearing aids and other treatment choices lowers the chance of mental health issues, dementia and the different issues related to hearing decline.