Even when it’s fairly minor, hearing loss can have a huge impact on your life. There will be a dramatic change in the way you communicate with family, friends, and coworkers. It can become challenging to complete day-to-day tasks such as going shopping. But it doesn’t need to have this type of negative affect on you. If you utilize a well adjusted hearing aid, it can make a huge difference.
Most people usually think of those advantages in a really linear sort of way: Hearing aids help you hear better. And that’s true. But how is the quality of life improved? What further benefits will hearing aids create?
Hearing aid’s top ten advantages
We humans just love making top ten lists. I bet you didn’t think you would be reading a top ten list about hearing aids when you woke up this morning. Well, maybe you did if you’ve been dealing with your hearing loss for a while.
So, what are the top ten advantages linked to wearing your hearing aid? Here they are!
1. You will have improved relationships.
Strong communication is crucial to any great relationship. But when you have neglected hearing loss, communication can be challenging. With hearing aids, you’ll finally hear more than little snippets of conversation. You’ll be able to keep up with the conversation and get the whole story.
This also means you won’t feel excluded from the conversation, and you won’t feel resentful that the conversations carry on without you. So your overall relationships, among your friends, co-workers, and family members, will improve. There is a strong connection between relationships and hearing aids!
2. You’ll be more independent
When you have neglected hearing loss, activities such as shopping or dining out can be a real ordeal. Trying to communicate with wait staff and cashiers can be tricky when you can’t hear that well. But with a set of hearing aids, the whole process suddenly becomes a lot easier. You’ll have much more independence when you navigate the world around you.
Driving will also be less hazardous. That’s because your hearing aids will enhance your total situational awareness (more on that in a bit). You won’t be as anxious about doing things on your own when you can hear the world more clearly.
3. You might make more money
Let’s chuck out a hypothetical: if you’re attending a meeting at work and miss half of what’s discussed, you might not perform your job quite as well. This can lead to decreased job opportunities and being passed-up for promotions.
When you’re wearing properly tuned hearing aids, you will be less fatigued from struggling to hear, and following along with those meetings will be much easier. By doing this you can have a chance to raise your income by increasing your ability to focus on work.
4. Your tinnitus symptoms will decrease
Tinnitus is that ringing or buzzing in the ear that most of us have experienced occasionally. Tinnitus symptoms will frequently be more extreme and frequent with hearing loss (there are a host of reasons for this, sometimes the tinnitus is just relatively louder because everything else is so quiet, for example).
Many individuals report that their tinnitus symptoms ease up when they wear a hearing aid. The louder overall outside sound supplied by the hearing aid may be, in some situations, just drowning out the tinnitus symptoms. But relief is relief.
5. Reduced chance of cognitive decline
There is a solid connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss. For instance, neglected hearing loss can significantly increase your chance of developing dementia. There are numerous theories about why this might be, but the end result is that treating your hearing loss appears to help! That’s why it’s not a good idea to forget to put in your hearing aid. You might be giving your brain a better chance of staying healthy longer.
6. Music can once again be appreciated
It’s tough to appreciate music, in its whole entirety, when you suffer from hearing impairment. That’s because hearing loss tends to effect one wavelength of sound first, then another. Maybe you can’t hear low frequencies, for example. The music you used to like, consequently, might sound… different.
With your hearing aids, though, those missing gaps in the music will be filled in, and you can enjoy music again! You’ll hear all of the frequencies and your music won’t sound so muffled. It can be an amazing relief to hear your favorite band again.
7. Your confidence will improve
Your confidence will be enhanced when you can hear better and have more successful interactions. And confidence is a wonderful thing.
This is not to say that hearing loss should rob you of your confidence. It’s just that, particularly if that hearing loss is recent, you might suddenly find it a challenge to interact with others in the same ways you always have.
Those interactions can become easier again when you use hearing aids. And when that happens, confidence will improve.
8. You’ll have more energy
If your hearing loss has been gradually developing, your brain has probably been working overtime. That’s because your brain doesn’t recognize your ears aren’t working right, so it’s continuously trying to fill in the audio holes that your hearing impairment has produced. That’s… a lot of work! And it means that your brain is struggling (and strained) almost continuously.
When you invest in a hearing aid, you’re giving your brain the opportunity to relax and refresh. It will have less work to do. With this, constant tiredness and fatigue will be reduced. You’ll have more vitality to do the things you love to do!
9. Being more conscious of your surroundings will keep you safer
If your hearing loss is new, you may not yet have completely adjusted. Usually, you would hear approaching traffic before you step out into the road. You’re accustomed to hearing the emergency siren before you look in the rearview mirror.
You might presume certain situations are safe when, because you’re not aware of your hearing loss, or you’ve ignored it, they really aren’t. And that can be a dangerous proposition.
Hearing aids will help reestablish that lost awareness. So you’ll be capable of making smarter, less dangerous choices.
10. You’ll be a positive example!
The one thing that can be even harder than change is personal growth. You’re acknowledging that things aren’t working properly now when you invest in a hearing aid. But you’re improving yourself as well.
That’s a positive thing! It’s the kind of thing we should all work for! So you’re acting as a role model and a positive example when you use your hearing aids. You should be proud of yourself.
Get your hearing tested today
The primary benefit of hearing aids is that you get to enjoy hearing better. That one’s obvious. But there are plenty of benefits to using hearing aids. This top ten list is by no means complete.
Your top ten list may look a little different. Making an appointment with us for a hearing assessment is the first step no matter what advantages you look forward to.