Your overall life can be impacted by age-related hearing loss. Besides your ability to hear, your professional life, your social life, and even your cognitive clarity can also be affected. Over time, hearing loss can intensely impact the way your brain works in ways that immediately impact your mood, your memory, and more.
The relationship between cognition and hearing loss isn’t always obvious. People usually don’t relate their memory problems, for instance, with hearing loss even though it’s one of the very 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, hearing loss puts a unique strain on your brain and that’s, at least in part, the connection. Your cognitive abilities will normally improve when you manage your hearing loss.
How hearing loss impacts memory
Detecting hearing loss can frequently be challenging. Frequently, people fail to notice the early warning signs and more subtle symptoms. Hearing loss might only be identified, for people in this category, when it becomes more severe. In part, that’s because hearing loss tends to advance rather gradually. People often begin increasing the volume on their devices more and more and tend to dismiss their symptoms.
Another factor is how good the brain is at compensating for loss of sound. You may not notice that it’s becoming more difficult to understand what people are saying as a result. The positive thing about this is that your daily life will have fewer interruptions. However, compensating like this requires substantial brain power. Requiring your brain to work at this level for long periods can lead to:
- Chronic fatigue
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Unexplained irritability
We will be able to help you determine whether these symptoms are a result of hearing loss or not. In cases where hearing loss is present, we’ll work with you to establish a treatment plan.
Can hearing loss cause memory problems?
Obviously, your brain can be impacted by hearing loss in other ways besides fatigue. Forgetfulness is a common symptom. When hearing loss has been neglected, this is particularly true. The cause and effect relationship isn’t fully understood, but it’s obvious that there is a link between hearing loss and the following problems:
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: An increase in anxiety and depression as a result of neglected hearing loss is not uncommon according to multiple studies. And once again, when the underlying hearing loss has been treated, the risk factor drops substantially.
- Social isolation: It’s not uncommon for individuals to withdraw from social contact when they have untreated hearing loss. You’ll go out less frequently, chat with the cashier at the supermarket less, and so on. Over time, this kind of solitude can alter the way your brain is functioning.
- Increased risk of dementia: The danger of dementia and other forms of mental decline is greater for individuals who have neglected hearing loss. This risk declines considerably when the hearing loss is treated and managed.
These problems aren’t unrelated, of course. Social solitude can worsen depression and other cognitive health problems. Likewise, that type of solitude can also raise your risk of developing dementia.
Can mental decline be caused by hearing loss?
One of the more serious impacts of untreated hearing loss is a significant increase in your risk of mental decline and dementia. Scientists have some theories about why this might be, but what’s clear is that management of symptoms helps significantly. In other words, managing your hearing loss has been shown to slow cognitive decline and lower your risk of developing dementia later in life.
How to deal with your forgetfulness (and hearing loss)
The good news is, managing untreated hearing loss, if your forgetfulness is a result of hearing loss, will certainly help. In cases where hearing loss is detected, we may suggest the following:
- Regular screenings: Before any issues begin to happen, regular screenings can detect them. 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 mental strain outlined above.
- The use of hearing aids: You will hear better with the use of a hearing aid. This can result in less strain on your mental abilities and an improvement in your social scenario. By preventing and limiting social isolation, your cognition can improve, lowering your risk of dementia, depression, and other problems.
You don’t need to stay forgetful!
You can regain strength of memory even if hearing loss is currently causing a little forgetfulness. Once the strain on your brain is relieved, your cognitive function, in many instances, will improve. When your brain doesn’t have to work as hard to hear, the rest can be really helpful.
Making an appointment with us can greatly improve your outlook and reduce your risk for other problems. Contact us today!