Hearing loss can seriously impact the way you live, even when it’s minor. There will be a significant change in the way you communicate with loved ones, friends, and coworkers. Daily activities like going to the grocery store can become more challenging. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be all doom and gloom. If you use a well calibrated hearing aid, it can make a big difference.
Most people tend to think of those advantages in a very linear sort of way: Hearing aids help you hear better. And that’s not untrue. But how do hearing aids better quality of life? Just how far do the benefits of hearing aids go?
The top ten reasons to get hearing aids
It’s sort of amazing, isn’t it, how we can so often come up with top ten lists for everything? When you got up today, did you think you’d be reading a top ten list about hearing aids? Well, maybe you did if you’ve been coping with your hearing loss for a while.
So, what are the top ten advantages associated with wearing your hearing aid? Here they are!
1. You will have better relationships.
Strong communication is crucial to any great relationship. But when you have neglected hearing loss, communication can be a real challenge. With hearing aids, you’ll finally hear more than little snippets of conversation. You’ll hear everything, you’ll get the full story, and you’ll be able to keep up with the conversation.
You won’t be resentful and feel excluded from conversations. So you will have an improvement in your relationships with family members, friends, and colleagues. The connection between hearing aids and relationships is a strong one!
2. You’ll have greater independence
Shopping at the grocery store or going to a restaurant when you have untreated hearing loss can feel like an ordeal. Trying to communicate with wait staff and cashiers can be tricky when you can’t hear that well. But the overall process becomes easier when you have hearing aids. You’ll have a lot more independence when you move around the world around you.
You’ll also be better able to drive safely. That’s because your hearing aids will increase your overall situational awareness (more on that later). When you hear more of the world, you’ll be able to do more by yourself, and you’ll be able to do it with less anxiety.
3. You might make more money
Let’s throw out a hypothetical: if you’re in a meeting at work and miss half of what’s said, you may not execute your job quite as well. This can lead to reduced job opportunities and being passed-up for promotions.
When you’re wearing precisely tuned hearing aids, you will be less fatigued from struggling to hear, and keeping up with those meetings will be a lot easier. By doing this you can have an opportunity to boost your income by increasing your ability to focus on work.
4. You’ll have decreased tinnitus symptoms
Tinnitus is one of those things that most people have experienced at times; it’s that buzzing or ringing in your ear. Tinnitus symptoms will commonly be more intense and frequent with hearing loss (there are a host of explanations for this, sometimes the tinnitus is just relatively louder because everything else is so quiet, for example).
With a hearing aid, many people note that they experience reduced tinnitus symptoms. The louder overall outside sound supplied by the hearing aid could be, in some cases, just drowning out the tinnitus symptoms. But we will take relief whenever we can, right?
5. Lower risk of mental decline
There is a solid connection between cognitive decline and hearing impairment. For example, untreated hearing loss can seriously increase your risk of developing dementia. Treating hearing loss appears to be helpful, although there are numerous theories as to why. That’s why it’s important to be certain you wear your hearing aids. You may be giving your brain a better chance of staying healthy longer.
6. Music can once again be appreciated
It’s hard to appreciate music, in its whole entirety, when you have hearing impairment. That’s because hearing loss is likely to effect one wavelength of sound first, then another. Maybe you’re unable to hear low frequencies, for instance. The music you used to like, as a result, may sound… different.
With your hearing aids, though, those missing holes in the music will be filled in, and you can appreciate music again! You’ll get the high notes and the low notes, instead of just one or the other (or a muffled mess). It can be a great relief to hear your favorite band again.
7. You’ll get an increase in confidence
Having better hearing and interacting more completely will boost your confidence. And who doesn’t want confidence?
This isn’t to say that hearing impairment should take away your confidence. It’s just that, particularly if that hearing loss is new, you could suddenly find it challenging to interact with people in the same ways you always have.
Those interactions can become easier again when you use hearing aids. And when that takes place, confidence will grow.
8. You’ll have more vigor
Your brain is probably working extra hard if your hearing loss is slowly progressing. 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 hard work. And so, your brain is under persistent strain.
When you get a hearing aid, you’re giving your brain a chance to relax and recharge. It won’t need to work as hard. Which means you won’t feel so continuously exhausted and depleted. 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 adapted. Ordinarily, you would hear oncoming traffic before you step out into the street. You’re used to hearing the emergency siren before you check the rearview mirror.
If your hearing loss is recent, or you aren’t aware of it, you might assume that some scenarios are safe when they actually aren’t. And that can be a dangerous proposition.
This lost awareness will be recovered by using hearing aids. So you’ll be capable of making wiser, safer choices.
10. You will set a good example!
Change can be tough, and personal growth still harder. When you get a hearing aid, you’re accepting that something isn’t necessarily working properly anymore. But you’re bettering yourself too.
That’s a good thing! We should all strive for this type of thing, right? So when you pop in your hearing aids, you’re setting yourself up as a positive example and role model. (It’s okay, you can blush a bit, you deserve it.)
Schedule a hearing exam right away
When you wear hearing aids you will hear better and that’s the main advantage. That goes without saying. But as you can tell, there are lots of immediate advantages of hearing aids! This top ten list is certainly not complete.
You might have a totally different top ten list. Making an appointment with us for a hearing assessment is the first step no matter what benefits you look forward to.