The New Year is a great time to reflect, reset, and establish new goals. This offers a wonderful opportunity to make positive changes. Setting health-centered goals is a great way to commit to your health and wellness. You can commit to prioritizing your hearing health in the New Year by scheduling an appointment for a hearing test. This simple step can lead to life-changing benefits!
Benefits of Treating Hearing Loss
Hearing is an integral component of overall health. It is connected to communication, brain health, social engagement, and mental health. Untreated hearing loss has multifaceted effects that can deteriorate one’s quality of life. Treating hearing loss not only strengthens hearing but also improves all areas of life. Major benefits of treatment include the following:
- Strengthens communication. The most common way hearing loss is treated is with hearing aids. These are electronic devices that help the brain and ears absorb and process sound. Hearing aids maximize hearing capacity, allowing people to hear and have conversations with greater ease. Hearing loss symptoms are alleviated and people are better able to be present and fully engage in conversations.
- Improves relationships. Communication is the foundation of healthy relationships. Untreated hearing loss often takes a toll on relationships by chipping away at quality time and daily conversations. Hearing aids provide ample support that helps people fully engage in conversations with others. This creates more space for spending quality time, having fun and easy conversations, as well as sharing intimacy. These qualities nurture closeness and improve relationships with loved ones.
- Supports active social life. Social withdrawal is a common outcome of untreated hearing loss. People tend to avoid social interactions and activities because symptoms make it challenging to navigate conversations. Hearing aids strengthen hearing in all environments including social settings where there are higher levels of noise. People can have conversations with multiple people, participate in social activities, and be tuned in to all that is happening with greater ease.
- Improves overall health. Hearing aids improve health in numerous ways. They strengthen cognitive functions, enhancing brain health. This is especially important because untreated hearing loss increases the risk of cognitive decline. Additionally, hearing aids increase spatial awareness and safety.
These benefits support enhanced wellbeing by contributing to a greater sense of self, happiness, and confidence. Treating hearing loss can fundamentally improve quality of life and health in countless ways.
Recognizing Signs of Hearing Loss
It can take some time to realize changes are occurring to your hearing health. Hearing loss typically happens gradually so it can be overlooked for a while. Knowing the signs of hearing loss can help you identify any impairment and move towards seeking treatment. Common signs of hearing loss includes the following:
- Tinnitus: a ringing, whistling, or clicking like noise that can be heard in one or both ears when no sound is present in one’s environment.
- Sounds are distorted or muffle which makes it difficult to distinguish individual words.
- Needing to turn up the volume on electronic devices.
- Asking others to repeat themselves, speak louder, or make other adjustments to speech.
- Missing words or parts of a conversation, making it hard to follow along.
- Being able to hear more clearly in one ear compared to the other.
- Lip reading to help identify individual words.
- Feeling fatigued after conversions and social interactions.
These symptoms can be experienced from mild to severe depending on the degree of hearing loss a person is navigating. This disrupts daily life in several major ways – straining communication, social withdrawal, taking a toll on health, etc. Seeking treatment early can drastically help protect one’s hearing health.
Prioritize Your Hearing Health in the New Year
The New Year offers a fresh start. Committing to your hearing health is a useful and important way to strengthen your health. The first step is to have your hearing assessed by a hearing healthcare specialist. Hearing tests involve a painless process that measures hearing ability in both ears. This establishes an overall picture of your hearing health needs and informs treatment options that can effectively meet those needs. We are invested in providing comprehensive services and individualized care that significantly improves overall health. Our practice is here to support you on your hearing health journey. Call us today to schedule an appointment for a hearing test!