As we age, hearing loss is normally perceived as a fact of life. Hearing loss is experienced by lots of older Americans and so is tinnitus or a ringing in the ears. But for such an accepted ailment lots of people still deny they suffer from loss of hearing.
A new study from Canada posits that over half of all Canadians middle-aged and older cope with some kind of hearing loss, but no issues were reported at all by more than 77% percent of those. In the United States, more than 48 million people have some form of hearing loss, but many do not attempt to do anything about it. If this denial is on purpose or not is up for debate, but it’s still true that a substantial number of individuals let their hearing loss go unchecked – which, in the future, could cause considerable problems.
Why do Some Individuals Not Know They Suffer From Hearing Loss?
It’s a tricky matter. Loss of hearing is a gradual process, and problems comprehending people and hearing things go undetected. Or, more commonly, they could blame it on something else – the person they’re speaking to is mumbling, volumes aren’t turned up loud enough, or there’s too much background interference. There are, unfortunately, a number of things that hearing loss can be blamed on, and people’s first reaction is not usually going to be to get examined or get a hearing test.
It also happens that some people just won’t admit that they have hearing loss. Another study conducted in the United States shows that lots of seniors simply refuse to admit that they are suffering from a hearing issue. They do everything they can to mask their problem, either because they don’t want to acknowledge an issue or because of perceived stigmas surrounding hearing loss.
The concern with both of these situations is that by denying or not recognizing you have a problem hearing you could actually be negatively impacting your overall health.
There Can be Extreme Consequences From Neglected Hearing Loss
It’s not just your ears that are impacted by hearing loss – heart disease and high blood pressure have also been connected to hearing loss along with anxiety, depression, and mental decline.
Research has revealed that people who have treated their loss of hearing using cognitive therapy, changes of diet and hearing aids have better overall health and longer life spans.
It’s necessary to acknowledge the indications of hearing loss – continual ringing or humming in the ears, problems having conversations, needing to crank up the volume of your TV or radio.
What Can be Done About Loss of Hearing?
You can control your hearing loss using a number of treatments. Hearing aids are the most prevalent type of treatment, and you won’t experience the same kinds of problems that your parents or grandparents did because hearing aid technology has advanced appreciably. Contemporary hearing aids have Bluetooth functionality so they can connect wirelessly to your smartphone or TV and they are capable of filtering out background noise and wing.
A dietary changes may also have a positive effect on your hearing health if you suffer from anemia. Eating more foods that are high in iron has been shown to help people combat tinnitus and hearing loss since iron deficiency anemia has been shown to result in hearing loss.
The most important thing you can do, though, is to have your hearing checked routinely.
Are you worried you might have hearing issues? Visit us and get checked.