There have been some intriguing studies published in recent years that dive into the connections between cognitive health and hearing loss— they’re more intertwined than you might think.
If you’ve seen those studies, or have read about how hearing loss can affect far more than just your ears, perhaps it’s time to look into a hearing test.
Each year, we’ll get our eyesight tested, our teeth cleaned, and our physical health checked—but when was your last hearing test?
Recently, I found a newer study from January of this year that adds more weight to the importance of taking care of your hearing: hearing aids, when used consistently and correctly, could help you live longer.
The study, done by Dr. Janet Choi from Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California, sought to understand how regular use of hearing aids affected almost 10,000 participants. All the participants had hearing loss challenges, and she split them into two groups: those who wore hearing aids for the same amount of time each day, and those who didn’t.
Her findings were staggering. The group of patients who consistently wore hearing aids had a 24 percent lesser risk of premature mortality than the group that didn’t wear hearing aids.
How Do Hearing Aids Increase My Life Expectancy?
Dr. Choi emphasizes that while hearing aids were a part of the equation that led to that lowered risk of premature mortality, they are not the one solution to living a longer life. Rather, it’s consistent wearing of hearing aids that showed the most benefit to the patients in her study.
Untreated hearing loss has been linked to a myriad of negative health conditions: social isolation, frailty of the body, cognitive decline, and dementia are among some of the conditions that hearing loss can play a part in causing.
However, the key word here is untreated—and treating your hearing loss is incredibly easy with the help of professional hearing care.
Hearing loss happens gradually, and quite often we don’t realize how much it affects our daily lives until it becomes a conflict in our day-to-day. From missing parts of conversation to missing important instructions at work, not hearing properly can make a serious impact on your life.
With the help of hearing aids, you can avoid the risks associated with untreated hearing loss and live a longer, healthier life. Advanced hearing aid technology has come far beyond the stigmatized devices of old; modern hearing aids are more powerful, more discreet, and can provide several boons to your lifestyle, like remote support, AI assistance in sound processing, and more.
A hearing aid wearer herself, Dr. Choi encourages more people to seek out help for their hearing loss challenges, especially after the results of her study.
How Upstate Hearing Can Help
From hearing tests to hearing aids, we’re here to help with every step of your hearing health journey.
If questions or concerns about hearing care are making you hesitate, please feel free to request a callback from a member of our team and we’ll get in touch as soon as we can to answer your questions.
Don’t want to wait? Call our office at (864) 999-0261.