In the past, hearing aids have carried a stigma. Some people just correlate them with getting old. The effect?
Countless people, both old and young, go without hearing aids and suffer needlessly from hearing loss, which itself is connected to several health concerns. This is reinforced by the numbers: 30 million people in the United States dealing with hearing loss, yet only about 15 percent of that population has ever worn a hearing aid.
Additionally, younger people are suffering from hearing loss in greater numbers than they ever have: a WHO report from 2015 forecasted that too much use of headphones and overly loud concert events and festivals will cause over 1.1 billion teens and young adults to permanently injure their hearing.
Still, advancing technology and shifting attitudes have given hearing aids a new outlook, and soon they’ll be in the same category as eye-glasses – and contact lenses, for that matter.
If You Need Hearing Aids, You Should Use Them, Here’s Why
There are a ton of reasons why you should wear hearing aids, some of them are surprising and some are obvious.
Some of the most common reasons are as follows:
- You won’t have as hard a time having conversations
- You’re brain won’t have to work as hard
- You’ll boost your earning power
- One of the obvious reasons is that you will be able to hear better
- You can listen to music and television at normal volumes
- You can reduce tinnitus symptoms
- Social activities will be more satisfying
Do these seem like good reasons to you? Some benefit can be gained by using hearing aids even for people with mild hearing loss.
What many people aren’t aware of is that hearing loss is linked to mental decline, mental health problems, and conditions such as Alzheimers disease and dementia.
This may occur for a number of different reasons based on recent studies, this includes the overworking of the brain as it battles to comprehend sounds that it hears. It’s possible that the brain cells shrink and die because they don’t get enough stimulus, or it might be linked to social isolation, which is a major cause of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
By letting you hear words and sounds near you more clearly, hearing aids can help alleviate these issues. Your brain won’t need to make use of additional resources and will be capable of processing sounds in a standard way, while you will begin to enjoy conversations and social experiences again because you will gain more confidence.
Technological Advances in Hearing Aids
We told you why it’s necessary for anyone with hearing loss, old or young, to use hearing aids. Now it’s time to find out how hearing aids have progressed in the last few years.
If really want one of those big over the ear hearing aids, you can still buy one. They perform their function effectively and have progressed to the point where the majority of them have no problem filtering out background sounds such as wind or determining what direction sound comes from. However, there are more modern versions of hearing aids that are almost unnoticeable, yet pack quite a bit of technology to work with today’s digital world.
Would you like to sync your hearing aid to your cellphone, tablet, television, or even your car’s navigation system? Most contemporary hearing aids come with Bluetooth technology so you’re in luck. There are even higher-end versions keep track of your physical health, take calls for you, stream music. Hearing aids today are designed to do more – much like your smartphone and smartwatch, smart hearing aids will come to be a must-have accessory for anybody who has hearing impairment. So now that you are ready to deal with your hearing loss and start wearing a hearing aid, get in touch with us for an appointment and hearing assessment.