Over the years, hearing aids have had a stigma. Some people simply correlate them with getting old. The result?
Lots of people, both old and young, decide against hearing aids and suffer unnecessarily from hearing loss, which is actually connected to numerous health concerns. This is backed up by the numbers: 30 million people in the United States dealing with hearing loss, yet only around 15 percent of that population has ever worn a hearing aid.
In addition, the youth are suffering from hearing loss in higher numbers than they ever have: a WHO report from 2015 predicted that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults would damage their hearing permanently due to excessive use of headphones and extremely loud music festivals.
Still, developing technology and shifting perceptions have given hearing aids a new outlook, and pretty soon they’ll be in the same class as eye-glasses – and contact lenses, for that matter.
If You Need Hearing Aids, You Should Wear 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.
Some of the most common reasons are as follows:
- You’ll have the ability to earn more money
- You won’t have to crank the music or TV up
- One of the obvious reasons would be that you can hear better
- You can enjoy social activities and situations again
- You can decrease tinnitus symptoms
- You’re brain won’t need to work as hard
- Conversations will be a lot easier
Are these reasons sounding beneficial to you? Even somebody with minor hearing damage can get some benefit from wearing hearing aids.
What many people don’t know is that hearing loss is connected to mental decline, mental health issues, and conditions such as Alzheimers disease and dementia.
Studies point to several different reasons why this might occur, this includes the overworking of the brain as it struggles to understand sounds that it hears. It could be that the brain cells don’t get enough stimulation so they shrink and die, or it may be connected to social isolation, which is a leading cause of depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems.
By allowing you to hear words and sounds around you more clearly, hearing aids can help alleviate these issues. Your brain won’t have to make use of extra resources and will be able to process sounds in a standard way, while you will start to enjoy conversations and social experiences again because you will have a boost in confidence.
Technological Developments in Hearing Aids
By now it should be obvious why people of any age should use hearing aids if they need them. Now it’s time to learn how hearing aids have advanced in the past few years.
The bulky, over-the-ear hearing aids are still available for the people who want them. They also have progressed to the point that they can identify where sound is originating from and can filter out sound adequately. However, there are new and improved versions of hearing aids that are nearly unnoticeable, yet contain quite a bit of technology to work with today’s digital world.
Is connecting your hearing aids up with your Bluetooth devices including your tv, smartphone, or tablet something you would want to do? Most modern hearing aids come with Bluetooth technology so you’re in luck. There are even higher-end versions that can stream music, keep track of your physical activity, and automatically take and make phone calls for you. Hearing aids today are made to do more – just like your smartphone and smartwatch, smart hearing aids will come to be a must-have accessory for anyone who has hearing loss. So now that you’re ready to manage your hearing loss and begin using a hearing aid, get in touch with us for an appointment and hearing assessment.