Your overall life can be impacted by age-related hearing loss. Not only is your ability to hear affected, but also your social life, your professional networks, and even your cognitive abilities. The way your brain works, including your memory and mood, can be substantially affected by hearing loss.
The connection between cognition and hearing loss isn’t always apparent. For instance, one of the earliest symptoms of hearing loss may be forgetfulness, but individuals rarely think that their memory troubles are linked to a loss of hearing. Unfortunately, the truth is that memory loss and hearing loss are closely linked.
What’s the link between memory and hearing loss? Well, hearing loss puts a unique strain on your brain and that’s, at least in part, the link. Your cognitive abilities will usually improve when you manage your hearing loss.
How hearing loss impacts memory
Detecting hearing loss can frequently be challenging. Frequently, people miss the early warning signs and more subtle symptoms. Hearing loss may only be recognized, for individuals in this category, when it becomes more extreme. In part, that’s because hearing loss tends to develop quite gradually. It’s commonly easy to disregard symptoms and, essentially, turn up the volume on your television a little more every few days (or weeks).
Another aspect is how good the brain is at compensating for loss of sound. Consequently, you may not notice that people are more difficult to understand. The positive thing about this is that your day-to-day life will have fewer interruptions. However, compensating like this requires considerable brain power. Here are a few consequences of asking your brain to do this over long time periods.:
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Unexplained irritability
- Chronic fatigue
If you’re having these symptoms, we’ll be able to tell you whether the underlying cause is hearing loss or not. If it’s established that you are dealing with hearing loss, we can help you develop the best treatment plan.
Can hearing loss lead to memory problems?
Obviously, your brain can be affected by hearing loss in other ways besides mental exhaustion. Forgetfulness is a prevalent symptom. When hearing loss has gone untreated, this is particularly true. The cause and effect relationship is not fully understood, but it’s obvious that there is a link between hearing loss and the following problems:
- Social isolation: Individuals with untreated hearing loss will frequently begin to isolate themselves from other people. They will often avoid conversations and will do things like going to self-checkout rather than talking to a cashier. Over time, this kind of solitude can change the way your brain is functioning.
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: Research has shown that untreated hearing loss can also result in increases in both depression and anxiety over time. And once more, when the root hearing loss has been managed, the risk factor drops considerably.
- Increased risk of dementia: Individuals who have neglected hearing loss often exhibit an increased danger of dementia and cognitive decline. When the hearing loss is effectively treated, the risk decreases significantly.
All of these concerns are obviously intertwined. Social solitude can worsen depression and other cognitive health issues. Similarly, that kind of isolation can also raise your risk of developing dementia.
Can cognitive decline be caused by hearing loss?
Your risk of mental decline and dementia is increased by neglected hearing loss, and that’s one of the more severe outcomes of neglecting your hearing problems. It’s very clear that management of the symptoms helps substantially and scientists have a number of theories as to why. In other words, treating your hearing loss has been shown to reduce cognitive decline and decrease your risk of developing dementia later in life.
Dealing with hearing loss related forgetfulness
If your fatigue and memory loss are caused by neglected hearing loss, the good news is that treating your hearing loss symptoms can absolutely have a positive effect. Here are a few things we may suggest if hearing loss is detected:
- Regular screenings: Before any problems start to happen, regular screenings can identify them. Treating your hearing loss early can prevent cognitive strain.
- Hearing protection: Some of the mental decline previously mentioned can be avoided and additional damage can be decreased by the use of hearing protection.
- The use of hearing aids: Using a hearing aid can help you hear better. This can lead to less strain on your mental abilities and an improvement in your social scenario. Your risk of dementia, depression, and other possible issues can be decreased and your cognition can be improved by limiting your social isolation.
You can improve your memory
You can restore strength of memory even if hearing loss is presently causing a little forgetfulness. Once the strain on your brain is relieved, your cognitive function, in many cases, will sharpen. When your brain doesn’t need to work as hard to hear, the rest can be very helpful.
Make an appointment with us so that we can help you significantly improve your outlook and reduce your risk of other problems.