Age-related hearing loss can have diverse impacts across your overall life. Besides your ability to hear, your professional life, your social life, and even your cognitive clarity can also be affected. The way your brain works, including your memory and mood, can be substantially affected by hearing loss.
Sometimes, the link between hearing loss and cognition is elusive. For instance, one of the initial symptoms of hearing loss may be forgetfulness, but individuals rarely think that their memory issues are linked to a loss of hearing. The unfortunate truth 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 distinctive strain on your brain and that’s, at least in part, the link. Your cognitive abilities will normally improve when you manage your hearing loss.
How memory is Affected by hearing loss
Noticing hearing loss can frequently be difficult. It’s not uncommon for individuals to miss the more subtle and early signs. Hearing loss may only be identified, for people in this category, when it becomes more extreme. In part, that’s because hearing loss has a tendency to progress rather gradually. It’s often easy to ignore symptoms and, essentially, turn up the volume on your television a little more every few days (or weeks).
In addition, the human brain is really good at compensating for periodic loss of sounds. You might not notice that it’s becoming harder to understand what people are saying as a result. This is advantageous in that you will likely experience fewer disruptions to your daily life. But it takes a considerable amount of brain power to compensate like this. Requiring your brain to perform at this level for long durations can result in:
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Unexplained irritability
- Chronic fatigue
If you’re noticing these symptoms, we’ll be able to inform you whether the root cause is hearing loss or not. If it’s determined that you are dealing with hearing loss, we can help you develop the best treatment plan.
Can memory issues be the result of hearing loss?
Of course, this mental fatigue isn’t the only way that hearing loss can affect your brain. Forgetfulness is frequently a notable presentation. When hearing loss has been neglected, this is particularly true. Although scientists aren’t perfectly clear as to the cause and effect connection, hearing loss has been well connected to the following problems.:
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: An increase in anxiety and depression as a result of neglected hearing loss isn’t uncommon according to multiple studies. Again, this risk has been demonstrated to decrease when the root hearing loss is successfully managed.
- Social isolation: It isn’t uncommon for people to withdraw from social contact when they have neglected hearing loss. They will often avoid conversations and will do things like using self-checkout rather than talking to a cashier. Over time, this sort 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 people with untreated hearing loss. This risk falls considerably when the hearing loss is treated and managed.
These problems aren’t unrelated, of course. Social solitude can exacerbate depression and other cognitive health problems. And your risk of dementia also increases with social isolation.
Can mental decline be caused by hearing loss?
One of the more serious impacts of neglected hearing loss is a pronounced increase in your risk of mental decline and dementia. Scientists have some theories about why this may be, but what’s obvious is that management of symptoms helps substantially. In other words, managing your hearing loss has been shown to reduce mental decline and lower your risk of developing dementia later in life.
Dealing with hearing loss induced forgetfulness
If your fatigue and forgetfulness are caused by untreated hearing loss, the good news is that treating your hearing loss symptoms can absolutely have a positive impact. In cases where hearing loss is identified, we may recommend the following:
- Regular screenings: Routine screenings can help you identify issues with your hearing before they become significant issues. Mental strain can be avoided with early management.
- The use of hearing aids: You will hear better with the use of a hearing aid. This can lead to less strain on your cognitive abilities and an improvement in your social situation. By preventing and decreasing social isolation, your cognition can improve, lowering your risk of dementia, depression, and other issues.
- Hearing protection: The use of hearing protection can prevent additional degradation of your hearing and, consequently, help prevent some of the cognitive strain outlined above.
You can improve your memory
You can restore strength of memory even if hearing loss is presently causing a little forgetfulness. In many instances, mental functions will return once your brain doesn’t need to strain so hard. When you hear better, your brain doesn’t have to work so hard, and that rest can do a world of good.
Schedule an appointment with us so that we can help you significantly improve your outlook and reduce your risk of other issues.
