Your overall life can be affected by age-related hearing loss. Not only is your ability to hear impacted, but so too are your social life, your professional networks, and even your mental abilities. The way your brain works, including your memory and mood, can be substantially affected by hearing loss.
Sometimes, the connection between hearing loss and cognition is subtle. People typically don’t relate their memory problems, for instance, with hearing loss even though it’s one of the very first symptoms. Unfortunately, the reality is that memory loss and hearing loss are closely related.
What’s the connection between memory and hearing loss? Well, the link is at least partly the result of the unique ways that hearing loss can strain and stress your brain. Often, when your hearing loss symptoms are successfully managed, your mental abilities will improve.
How memory is impacted by hearing loss
Detecting hearing loss can frequently be difficult. It’s not uncommon for people to miss the more subtle and early signs. For these individuals hearing loss might only become noticeable once it has become moderate or severe. In part, that’s because hearing loss has a tendency to progress quite slowly. Individuals often begin raising the volume on their devices more and more and tend to disregard their symptoms.
Another factor is how good the brain is at compensating for loss of sound. As a result, you may not notice that people are harder to understand. This is advantageous in that you will probably experience fewer disruptions to your daily life. But it takes a considerable amount of brain power to compensate in this way. Requiring your brain to execute at this level for long periods can result in:
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Chronic fatigue
- Unexplained irritability
We will be able to help you find out whether these symptoms are a result of hearing loss or not. In instances where hearing loss is present, we’ll work with you to formulate a treatment plan.
Can memory problems be the result of hearing loss?
Obviously, your brain can be affected by hearing loss in other ways besides fatigue. Forgetfulness is frequently a prominent presentation. This is especially true of neglected hearing loss. The cause and effect relationship is not entirely understood, but it’s clear that there is a link between hearing loss and the following issues:
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: An increase in anxiety and depression due to untreated hearing loss is not unusual according to multiple studies. Again, this risk has been demonstrated to decrease when the underlying hearing loss is effectively managed.
- Social isolation: Individuals with neglected hearing loss will frequently begin to separate themselves from other people. They will often avoid conversations and will do things like using self-checkout rather than talking to a cashier. Your brain will often change the way it processes information as a result.
- Increased risk of dementia: The risk of dementia and other forms of mental decline is greater for people who have untreated hearing loss. When the hearing loss is effectively treated, the risk diminishes significantly.
These issues aren’t unrelated, of course. Mental health problems, including depression, can be intensified by social isolation. And your risk of dementia also goes up with social solitude.
Does hearing loss cause mental decline?
Your risk of cognitive decline and dementia is increased by untreated hearing loss, and that’s one of the more serious outcomes of neglecting your hearing problems. Scientists have a few theories about why this might be, but what’s clear is that management of symptoms helps significantly. In other words, treating your hearing loss has been shown to slow down cognitive decline and decrease your risk of developing dementia later in life.
Dealing with hearing loss induced forgetfulness
If your fatigue and forgetfulness are caused by neglected hearing loss, the good news is that managing your hearing loss symptoms can definitely have a positive effect. In cases where hearing loss is identified, we may recommend the following:
- Regular screenings: Routine screenings can help you identify problems with your hearing before they become substantial issues. Treating your hearing loss early can prevent cognitive strain.
- Hearing protection: The utilization of hearing protection can counter further degradation of your hearing and, consequently, help prevent some of the cognitive strain described above.
- The use of hearing aids: Using a hearing aid can help you hear better. Your social life can be improved and your mental abilities will have less strain by using hearing aids. Your risk of dementia, depression, and other possible problems can be reduced and your cognition can be improved by limiting your social isolation.
You don’t need to stay forgetful!
You can restore strength of memory even if hearing loss is currently causing a little forgetfulness. Once the strain on your brain is alleviated, your mental function, in many instances, will sharpen. When you hear better, your brain doesn’t need to work so hard, and that rest can do a world of good.
Scheduling an appointment with us can greatly improve your outlook and reduce your risk for other problems. Call us today!