Age-associated hearing loss can have diverse impacts across your overall life. Besides your ability to hear, your professional life, your social life, and even your mental clarity can also be impacted. The way your brain functions, including your mood and memory, can be substantially affected by hearing loss.
Sometimes, the link between hearing loss and cognition is elusive. People normally don’t relate their memory issues, for instance, with hearing loss even though it’s one of the first symptoms. The unfortunate reality is that hearing loss and memory loss go hand-in-hand.
What does loss of hearing have to do with memory? Well, the relationship is at least in part due to the unique ways that hearing loss can strain and stress your brain. Often, when your hearing loss symptoms are successfully managed, your cognitive abilities will improve.
How hearing loss effects memory
Detecting hearing loss can often be challenging. It isn’t uncommon for people to miss the more discreet and early signs. Hearing loss may only be detected, for individuals in this category, when it becomes more severe. In part, that’s because hearing loss tends to develop quite gradually. Individuals often begin raising the volume on their devices more and more and tend to dismiss their symptoms.
Another aspect is how good the brain is at compensating for loss of sound. You may not detect that it’s becoming harder to understand what people are saying as a result. The positive thing about this is that your daily life will have fewer disruptions. But it takes a substantial amount of brain power to compensate like this. Here are some consequences of asking your brain to do this over long time periods.:
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Unexplained irritability
- Chronic fatigue
If you’re noticing these symptoms, we’ll be able to tell you whether the root cause is hearing loss or not. In cases where hearing loss is present, we’ll work with you to develop a treatment plan.
Can hearing loss lead to memory issues?
Of course, this mental fatigue isn’t the only way that hearing loss can impact your brain. Forgetfulness is a common symptom. This is especially true of untreated hearing loss. Even though scientists aren’t completely clear as to the cause and effect relationship, hearing loss has been well connected to the following problems.:
- Increased risk of dementia: The risk of dementia and other forms of mental decline is greater for people who have neglected hearing loss. When the hearing loss is effectively managed, the risk goes down significantly.
- Social isolation: People with neglected hearing loss will often begin to isolate themselves from other people. You’ll go out less often, talk to the cashier at the grocery store less, and so on. Your brain will often alter the way it processes information as a result.
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: Studies have demonstrated that neglected hearing loss can also cause increases in both depression and anxiety over time. And once more, when the underlying hearing loss has been treated, the risk factor drops substantially.
These problems are not unrelated, of course. Mental health issues, including depression, can be worsened by social isolation. And your risk of dementia also goes up with social isolation.
Can mental decline be caused by hearing loss?
One of the more serious impacts of untreated hearing loss is a pronounced increase in your risk of cognitive decline and dementia. It’s quite clear that management of the symptoms helps significantly and scientists have a few theories as to why. In other words, managing your hearing loss has been shown to slow down mental decline and decrease your risk of developing dementia later in life.
How to deal with your forgetfulness (and hearing loss)
The good news is, treating neglected hearing loss, if your forgetfulness is caused by hearing loss, will definitely help. Here are a number of things we may recommend if hearing loss is identified:
- The use of hearing aids: Using a hearing aid can help you hear better. Your social life can be improved and your cognitive abilities will have less strain by using hearing aids. Your risk of dementia, depression, and other possible issues can be reduced and your cognition can be improved by limiting your social isolation.
- Regular screenings: Before any problems start to happen, regular screenings can detect them. Treating your hearing loss early can prevent cognitive strain.
- Hearing protection: Some of the mental decline previously discussed can be avoided and additional damage can be reduced by using hearing protection.
You don’t have 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 have to work so hard, and that rest can do a lot of good.
Scheduling an appointment with us can greatly improve your outlook and decrease your risk for other problems. Contact us today!
