National Post (National Edition)
5 surprising ways hearing aids can help you get your groove back
If you need eyeglasses, chances are you don't think twice about slipping them on before you drive, read, study or watch TV.
In most cases, we associate glasses with intelligence and style, and see their need as a natural result of aging. But hearing aids often have the opposite impact.
Thanks to negative depictions in popular culture, schoolyard taunts and in public discourse, there's an irrational stigma around hearing aids that keeps many people from getting help.
“That's very frustrating,” says Jillian Price, chief audiologist with HearingLife Canada, a national network of hearing clinics. “We don't think there's anything to hide.”
Many people with hearing loss worry about how they'll be perceived if they wear hearing aids, but the lifestyle benefits are so profound that there's really no argument.
Hearing loss can be treated just as effectively with hearing aids as a vision impairment can be treated with eyeglasses.
And if you wear them, they can benefit you in ways you may not even realize. Here's how.
1. Hearing better can boost your confidence
If you struggle with hearing loss, many sounds will seem muffled, garbled or distorted. It's not that you can't hear anything at all; it's that you'll find it difficult to hear clearly.
If you can't hear clearly, it's difficult to keep track of conversations at work, at home and in social situations. And if you can't keep track, it's hard to participate.
“Hearing aids immediately help to improve confidence,” said Price. “You feel that you are able to participate with fewer errors, and less frustration.”
2. Hearing health and mental health are linked
A recent study found that older adults with hearing loss are more likely to have depressive symptoms than adults with normal hearing, and poor hearing has been linked to several other mental and physical disorders.
Medical researchers have associated the use of hearing aids with delayed diagnosis of depression, anxiety, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, although more research is needed to determine a causal relationship.
“It can feel quite lonely when you're trying to avoid situations where it's going to be challenging to hear,” says Price. “And social interaction is really important to keep our brains engaged, and to keep us healthy.”
3. Hearing better can increase your earning power
A study from two Harvard researchers in 2012 found that, on average, adults with hearing loss make significantly less wage income and are more likely to be unemployed, than people without hearing loss.
“If your ability to communicate is hindered, then that will affect your job performance,” Price notes. “So maybe you don't go for that promotion, because you're worried that it's going to be difficult for you to follow along in meetings.”
People with hearing aids can see an improvement in their communication abilities, which may lead to stronger professional relationships, promotions and better earning power.
“The hearing aid does the work for you, and you can just relax a bit,” says Price.
“It lowers your stress.”
4. Hearing better might help your sex life
Communication is important in every aspect of a romantic relationship, including physical intimacy. Hearing well is an element of foreplay, giving and receiving consent, and taking cues from your partner.
In most cases it's fine to leave hearing aids in during sex, and a healthy sex life has multiple benefits to your overall wellbeing, from lower stress to less anxiety and depression, and stronger feelings of intimacy with your partner.
5. Hearing well boosts your overall quality of life
Hearing is one of a constellation of factors that impact virtually every aspect of our lives. And just like a vision impairment, it's a natural part of aging that can be treated with assistive devices — including hearing aids.
“You just have to try them,” says Price. “The only way you're going to know the difference is if you try hearing aids, and we reintroduce sounds back to you at a level that you can hear them. Then you're sort of immersed back into your world at full volume, stereo sound.
“And that's the comparison you have to make — is my overall quality of life better with hearing aids or not? Once you make that choice, it's pretty clear for most people [the answer is] yes.”
Visit hearinglife.ca or call 1-855-547-7848 for more information and to book a free hearing test.