Hearing loss can really impact how you live, even when it’s minor. The way you interact with friends, coworkers, and family members can change significantly. Daily activities like going to the grocery store can become more challenging. But it doesn’t need to have this kind of negative impact on you. If you use a well calibrated hearing aid, it can make a big difference.
Hearing aids help you hear better, and that’s normally how most people think of them. And that’s not untrue. But how do hearing aids better quality of life? Just how far do the advantages of hearing aids go?
The top ten reasons to get hearing aids
It’s kind of extraordinary, isn’t it, how we can so often come up with top ten lists for everything? When you got up today, did you think you’d be reading a top ten list about hearing aids? Well, perhaps you did if you’ve been coping with your hearing loss for a while.
So, what are the top ten advantages connected with wearing your hearing aid? Here they are!
1. Your relationships will improve
For any relationship to be strong, good communication is essential. But when you have neglected hearing loss, communication can be a real challenge. With hearing aids, you’ll finally hear more than little snippets of conversation. You’ll hear everything, you’ll get the full story, and you’ll be able to keep up with the conversation.
You won’t be resentful and feel excluded from conversations. So you will have an improvement in your relationships with family members, friends, and coworkers. There is a strong link between relationships and hearing aids!
2. You’ll have more independence
Shopping at the supermarket or going to a restaurant when you have untreated hearing loss can be an ordeal. Attempting to communicate with wait staff and cashiers can be tricky when you can’t hear that well. But with a pair of hearing aids, the whole process quickly becomes a lot easier. You’ll have much more independence when you navigate the world around you.
Driving will also be safer. That’s because your overall situational awareness will be enhanced by your hearing aids. When you hear more of the world, you’ll be capable of doing more by yourself, and you’ll be able to do it without as much anxiety.
3. Stronger hearing may result in higher pay
Let’s chuck out a hypothetical: if you’re attending a meeting at work and miss half of what’s said, you may not perform your job quite as well. This can result in lost promotions or even dicey job prospects.
When you’re wearing properly tuned hearing aids, you will be less exhausted from straining to hear, and following along with those meetings will be much easier. This can improve your focus on work and put you in a better position to increase your income.
4. Your tinnitus symptoms will diminish
Tinnitus is that buzzing or ringing in the ear that the majority of us have experienced now and then. Tinnitus symptoms will usually be more intense and more often with hearing loss (there are a host of reasons for this, sometimes the tinnitus is only relatively noisier because everything else is so quiet, for instance).
With a hearing aid, many individuals observe that they experience diminished tinnitus symptoms. The louder overall external sound provided by the hearing aid may be, in some cases, simply drowning out the tinnitus symptoms. But relief is relief.
5. Lower risk of mental decline
There is a solid link between mental decline and hearing loss. For example, neglected hearing loss can seriously raise your chance of developing dementia. Managing hearing loss seems to be helpful, although there are numerous theories as to why. That’s why it’s not a good idea to forget to wear your hearing aid. You may be giving your brain a greater chance of staying healthy longer.
6. You can appreciate music again
When you have hearing loss music is more difficult to hear clearly. That’s because one frequency of sound usually goes before the others. Maybe you’re unable to hear low frequencies, for instance. As a result, the song you once enjoyed may just sound… strange.
With your hearing aids, though, those missing gaps in the music will be filled in, and you can appreciate music again! You’ll get the high notes and the low notes, instead of only one or the other (or a garbled mess). Hearing your favorite tune again can be extremely enjoyable.
7. Your confidence will grow
Your confidence will be enhanced when you can hear better and have more effective interactions. And confidence is a wonderful thing.
This is not to say that hearing impairment should take away your confidence. We’re just saying that you might find yourself having a difficult time interacting with others, particularly if your hearing loss is new.
A hearing aid can make those connections easier again. And that can result in a boost in confidence.
8. You’ll have more vigor
If your hearing impairment has been slowly advancing, your brain has likely been working overtime. The audio gaps that your hearing loss is producing will try to be filled in by your brain because it doesn’t know that your ears aren’t functioning. That’s hard work. And it means that your brain is working (and strained) almost all the time.
Your brain gets to recharge and unwind when you wear a hearing aid. It will have less work to accomplish. Which means you won’t feel so continuously exhausted and depleted. You’ll enjoy doing the things that are stimulating for you with this enhanced energy.
9. Being more mindful of your surroundings will keep you safer
You may not have adapted to your hearing loss, particularly if it’s new. You’re used to hearing traffic before you step out into the street. You’re used to hearing the emergency siren before you check the rearview mirror.
If your hearing loss is new, or you aren’t aware of it, you may assume that some scenarios are safe when they really aren’t. That can put you in some really dangerous situations.
Hearing aids will help restore that lost awareness. So you’ll be capable of making wiser, safer decisions.
10. You’ll be a positive example!
The one thing that can be even more challenging than change is personal growth. You’re admitting that things aren’t working effectively now when you get a hearing aid. But you’re bettering yourself as well.
There’s nothing wrong with that! It’s the sort of thing we should all strive for! So you’re acting as a role model and a positive example when you wear your hearing aids. (It’s okay, you can blush a bit, you deserve it.)
Get your hearing checked today
The primary benefit of hearing aids is that you get to experience hearing better. That one’s obvious. But as you know, there are boatloads of immediate benefits of hearing aids! This top ten list is just that, one little list of only ten of these advantages.
Your top ten list might look a little different. No matter what benefits you look forward to the most, the first step is making an appointment with us to have your hearing tested.