Over the years, hearing aids have carried a stigma. If you use one, people might think of you as old. What is the outcome?
Countless people, both old and young, forgo hearing aids and suffer unnecessarily from hearing loss, which is actually connected to several health problems. This is reinforced by the numbers: 30 million people in the United States suffering from hearing loss, yet only about 15 percent of that group has ever worn a hearing aid.
In addition, younger people are suffering from hearing loss in greater numbers than ever before: a WHO report from 2015 forecasted that 1.1 billion teens and young adults would injure their hearing permanently due to excessive use of headphones and louder and louder music festivals.
Still, shifting attitudes and advanced technology have given hearing aids a new life, and soon they’ll be in the same class as eye-glasses – and contact lenses, for that matter.
If You Require Hearing Aids, You Should Use Them, This Is Why
There are a ton of reasons why you should use hearing aids, some of them obvious and some of them unexpected.
Several of the most common reasons are as follows:
- Social activities will be more enjoyable
- You’ll give your brain a rest
- You’ll have the ability to earn more money
- You won’t have as hard a time having conversations
- One of the obvious reasons is that you can hear better
- You can decrease tinnitus symptoms
- You won’t need to turn the TV or music up
Are these reasons sounding beneficial to you? Some advantage can be gained by wearing hearing aids even for individuals with mild hearing loss.
What many people don’t know is that hearing loss is associated with cognitive decline, mental health problems, and conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
This may occur for several different reasons based on research, including that the brain gets overtaxed and overtired because it’s always striving to comprehend sounds. It’s possible that the brain cells shrink and die because they don’t receive enough stimulus, or it could be due to the leading cause of depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems which is social isolation.
By allowing you to hear words and sounds near you more clearly, hearing aids can help alleviate these problems. Your brain won’t need to utilize additional resources and will be capable of processing sounds in a standard way, while you’ll gain the ability and confidence to enjoy social experiences and conversations again.
Technological Developments in Hearing Aids
By now it should be obvious why people of any age should wear hearing aids if they need them. Now we’re going to talk about the how; as in, how hearing aid technology has progressed to the point where they’re no longer your grandparents’ hearing aids.
If really think you would like one of those big over the ear hearing aids, you can still buy one. They do their task adequately and have progressed to the point where most of them don’t have a problem filtering out background sounds like wind or determining which direction sound comes from. Conversely, there are more modern versions of hearing aids that have sophisticated technology which makes it easy for them to work with today’s digital environment and are virtually unnoticeable.
Do you want to connect your hearing aid to your smartphone, tablet, television, or even your car’s navigation system? Then you’re in luck since most modern hearing aids come equipped with Bluetooth technology that permits them to sync to a variety of devices. There are even higher-end models keep track of your physical health, stream music, and take calls for you. Smart hearing aids are becoming a must for anyone who has hearing loss because just like your smartwatch and smartphone, they’re simply made to do more. So now that you’re ready to deal with your hearing loss and begin wearing a hearing aid, get in touch with us for an appointment and hearing assessment.