Several studies have verified that hearing loss can have an impact on your brain. (Just have a look at some of our previous blog posts.) Hearing Aids, luckily, have been proven to be capable of helping you recover some of that cognitive capacity.

This is not to say that hearing aids are in some way going to make you more intelligent. But there’s some compelling research that suggests hearing aids can increase cognitive abilities, lowering your risk for anxiety, depression, and dementia.

You Accomplish a Lot of Hearing With Your Brain

To understand the connection between cognition and your ears, it’s important to understand that a considerable portion of your hearing actually takes place in your brain. That’s where the vibrations of the world are converted into the sounds of your surroundings. The parts of your brain that translate sound will suddenly have less to do when hearing starts to diminish.

Combined with other factors (such as social solitude), the alterations in your brain (and hearing) can result in the onset of specific mental health problems. Anxiety, depression, and dementia are far more obvious in individuals who have untreated hearing loss.

Your effectively “treating” your hearing loss when you’re using hearing aids. That means:

• Your brain stays healthier if it keeps working; your brain will be getting a more consistent workout in the regions responsible for hearing.
• Because you’ll be able to couple your hearing aids with consistent screening and other treatment options, you can stop your hearing from becoming increasingly worse.
• You won’t be as likely to isolate yourself socially. You will be more likely to engage with people if you’re able to hear and understand interactions.

Staying Attentive

Hearing aids can lessen dementia, anxiety, and depression because they enhance your brain and your social life.

• The health of your inner ear: Inner ear damage is not caused by loss of hearing alone. But there is typically a common cause for both hearing loss and inner ear damage. So treating the one can help you treat the other, and in many situations, a hearing aid is a part of that treatment routine.
• State of the art technology: Some current hearing aids, when someone has a fall, can immediately alert emergency services. This might not prevent the fall in the first place, but it can lessen lasting injuries or complications caused by the fall.
• Creating stronger awareness: At times, you fall because you’re not aware of your environment. Your situational awareness can be seriously hampered by hearing conditions. Identifying what direction sound is originating from can be as difficult as hearing sound in general. A fall or other accident can be the outcome.

Ultimately, when you’re using a hearing aid, you’re more likely to steer clear of a fall to begin with. A hearing aid boosts your physical health and cognitive capacity while carrying out the essential tasks of keeping you more mindful, more focused, and more connected.

Stop Ignoring Your Hearing Aid

None of this has even yet dealt with the basic hearing advantages of hearing aids. So when you take into consideration that amplified hearing, include the mental health benefits and physical well-being, it seems like wearing these devices would be a simple choice (not something you need to put your thinking cap on for).

The problem is that many people don’t know they have hearing loss. When your hearing fades away slowly, you may have a difficult time recognizing it. That’s the reason why having a normal hearing assessment is important. Without hearing aids, loss of hearing can worsen a wide range of other health concerns.

Hearing aids will lessen the likelihood of physical damage while helping to slow dementia and depression. Aside from helping your hearing, hearing aids offer a surprising number of advantages.