Give your hearing a health MOT
Don’t delay getting on track to better health
EVERYONE knows routine eye tests and dental checks can pick up health problems such as diabetes, but there is growing evidence that having a hearing test is good for your health, too. Sowhy not book a free hearing test atAmplifon, a global hearing specialist with 200 UK hearing centres.
There is nowsuch clear evidence of a link between low- frequency hearing loss and cardiovascular disease some experts believe hearing tests should be used to identify those at most risk.
People with diabetes are also twice as likely to have hearing loss, and those with prediabetes – where the disease is still reversible – have a 30 per cent higher incidence of hearing loss.
Having hearing loss can literally trip us up too. One in three people over the age of 65 has a serious fall, but a mild 25- decibel hearing loss triples the risk, scientists at Johns Hopkins University have discovered.
Moderate hearing loss also triples the risk of dementia, although Dr Lorraine Gailey from the charityHearing Link believes: “There may be people who are misdiagnosed with dementia who are just not hearing properly. If someone is asked a simple question and gives a bizarre answer it may be put down to dementia rather than hearing loss.”
But the good news is that better hearing and communication promotes better health. For patients attending medical appointments, experts have identified a number of pluses for patientswho have received help for their hearing difficulties, including reduced anxiety, improved understanding of their diagnosis and an increasedwillingness to follow their doctor’s advice.
Tazmeet Anand, a hearing aid audiologist and Cluster Manager for Amplifon, says: “It is very important to have a check- up as soon as you recognise any sign of hearing loss. Hearing aids can have such an enormous impact on someone’s life.
“Once somebody has a pair of hearing aids they will never ever want to give them back. There’s often a sense of, ‘ Ohmy gosh, I can’t believe I was missing so much. They havemade a huge difference to my life.’”