Age-related hearing loss can have diverse impacts across your whole life. Not only is your ability to hear impacted, but also your social connections, your professional networks, and even your mental abilities. Over time, hearing loss can intensely impact how your brain works in ways that directly impact your mood, your memory, and more.
The link between cognition and hearing loss isn’t always evident. People usually don’t associate their memory issues, for example, with hearing loss even though it’s one of the very first symptoms. Unfortunately, the reality is that memory loss and hearing loss are closely linked.
What does hearing loss have to do with memory? Well, the connection is at least in part the result of the unique ways that hearing loss can strain and stress your brain. Usually, when your hearing loss symptoms are effectively managed, your cognitive abilities will sharpen.
How memory is impacted by hearing loss
Hearing loss can be hard to notice. It’s not unusual for people to miss the more discreet and early signs. Hearing loss may only be recognized, for individuals in this category, when it becomes more extreme. In part, that’s because hearing loss has a tendency to progress rather slowly. It’s often easy to disregard symptoms and, basically, turn up the volume on your television a little more every few days (or weeks).
Another factor is how good the brain is at compensating for loss of sound. Consequently, you may not notice that people are more difficult to understand. This is advantageous in that you will most likely experience fewer disruptions to your daily life. But it takes a considerable amount of brain power to compensate in this way. Here are some consequences of asking your brain to do this over long periods of time.:
- Unexplained irritability
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Chronic fatigue
If you’re noticing these symptoms, we’ll be able to tell you whether the underlying cause is hearing loss or not. In situations where hearing loss is present, we’ll work with you to formulate a treatment plan.
Can hearing loss cause memory problems?
Of course, this mental exhaustion isn’t the only way that hearing loss can impact your brain. Forgetfulness is often a prominent presentation. When hearing loss has been neglected, this is especially true. The cause and effect relationship is not entirely understood, but it’s clear that there is a connection between hearing loss and the following issues:
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: An increase in anxiety and depression as a result of neglected hearing loss is not unusual according to multiple studies. And once again, when the root hearing loss has been managed, the risk factor drops considerably.
- Social isolation: It’s not unusual for individuals to disengage from social contact when they have neglected hearing loss. They will often steer clear of conversations and will do things like using self-checkout instead of talking to a cashier. Over time, this sort of solitude can change the way your brain is working.
- Increased risk of dementia: The risk of dementia and other forms of mental decline is greater for individuals who have untreated hearing loss. When the hearing loss is effectively treated, the risk decreases significantly.
These issues aren’t unrelated, of course. Social isolation can exacerbate depression and other mental health problems. And your risk of dementia also increases with social solitude.
Can mental decline be caused by hearing loss?
Your risk of mental decline and dementia is increased by untreated hearing loss, and that’s one of the more severe outcomes of neglecting your hearing issues. Scientists have a few theories about why this might be, but what’s obvious is that management of symptoms helps significantly. In other words, treating your hearing loss has been shown to reduce mental decline and lower your risk of developing dementia down the road.
Dealing with hearing loss related forgetfulness
If your fatigue and forgetfulness are caused by untreated hearing loss, the good news is that managing your hearing loss symptoms can absolutely have a positive effect. Here are a few things we might recommend if hearing loss is detected:
- Hearing protection: The utilization of hearing protection can counter additional degradation of your hearing and, as a result, help prevent some of the cognitive strain described above.
- The use of hearing aids: You will hear better with the use of a hearing aid. Your social life can be improved and your cognitive abilities will have less strain by using hearing aids. Your risk of dementia, depression, and other possible issues can be decreased and your cognition can be improved by limiting your social isolation.
- Regular screenings: Routine screenings can help you identify issues with your hearing before they become significant issues. Treating your hearing loss early can prevent mental strain.
You can improve your memory
You can restore strength of memory even if hearing loss is presently causing a little forgetfulness. In many circumstances, mental functions will come back once your brain doesn’t need to strain so hard. When you hear better, your brain doesn’t have to work so hard, and that rest can do a world of good.
Make an appointment with us so that we can help you substantially improve your outlook and decrease your risk of other problems.
