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Audiology Specialty Clinic - Sioux Falls, SD

Woman preventing Alzheimers with a puzzle and using hearing aids.

Let’s be clear: Keeping your mind sharp and avoiding cognitive conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s can be accomplished in numerous ways. Remaining socially active is one of the most essential while participating in the workforce appears to be another. Whatever methods are used to combat cognitive decline, however, keeping your hearing strong and wearing hearing aids if you need them will be immensely helpful.

Many studies show that the disorders listed above are all connected to neglected hearing loss. This article will outline the connection between cognitive decline and hearing loss and how using hearing aids can decrease the likelihood of these conditions becoming an imminent problem.

How Hearing Loss Contributes to Cognitive Decline

The connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been analyzed numerous times over the years by researchers at Johns Hopkins. The results of each study told the same story: cognitive decline was more prevalent with individuals who suffer from hearing loss. In fact, one study revealed that individuals with hearing loss were 24% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those with healthy hearing.

Even though dementia isn’t directly caused by hearing loss there is definitely a link. When you can’t effectively process sound your brain has to work overtime according to leading theories. That means your brain is spending more valuable energy on fairly simple activities, leaving a lot less of that energy for more advanced processes such as memory or cognitive functions.

Hearing loss can also have a significant impact on your mental health. Research has shown that hearing loss is linked to anxiety, depression, and might even influence schizophrenia. All of these disorders also lead to cognitive decline – as mentioned above, one of the optimum ways to safeguard your mental acuity is to remain socially active. In many cases, hearing loss causes individuals to feel self-conscious out in public, which means they’ll turn to isolation instead. The mental issues mentioned above are commonly the outcome of the lack of human interaction and can ultimately produce significant cognitive decline.

How a Hearing Aid Can Help You Keep Your Resolution

Hearing aids are possibly one of the best tools we have to maintain mental acuity and combat disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The problem is that only one in seven of the millions of people 50 or older who suffer from hearing impairment actually use a hearing aid. People might steer clear of hearing aids because they’ve had a negative experience in the past or maybe they hold some kind of stigma, but in fact, hearing aids have been shown to help people maintain their cognitive function by helping them hear better.

When your hearing is damaged for a prolonged amount of time, the brain may forget how to recognize some everyday sounds and will have to relearn them. It’s essential to help your brain go back to processing more important tasks and hearing aids can do just that by stopping this problem in the first place and helping you relearn any sounds the brain has forgotten.


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