Remember when you got your first car? How amazing was that feeling of independence? It was your decision when and where you went and with who you went with. For many, getting their first hearing aids is a lot like that feeling.
Why would getting your first pair of hearing aids be compared to getting your first car? It’s not just the well known reasons for having hearing aids, but also the subtle ones that can help you maintain your independence. Come to find out, your hearing has a significant effect on your brain’s functionality.
Neuroplasticity
The following example demonstrates how your brain reacts to changes: Following the exact same way as you always have, you set off for work. Now, suppose you go to make a corner and you find the road is closed. How would you react? Is giving up and going home a good decision? Unless of course you’re searching for a reason not to go to work, probably not. More than likely, you’ll take an alternate route. If that new route happened to be even more efficient, or if your regular route stayed closed for some time, the new route would become the new routine.
In your brain, when normal functions are blocked the very same thing occurs. Brand new pathways are routed in the brain due to a function called neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity can help you master new languages, or in learning new skills like juggling or forming healthy habits. Little by little, the physical changes to the brain adjust to correspond to the new paths and tasks that were once challenging become automatic. While neuroplasticity is usually helpful for learning new skills, it can also be equally as good at causing you to you forget what you already know.
Hearing Loss And Neuroplasticity
Hearing loss is the perfect example of how neuroplasticity has a negative impact on your day-to-day life. As explained in The Hearing Review, researchers from the University of Colorado discovered that even in the early stages of loss of hearing, when your brain quits working on processing sounds, it will be re-purposed for something else. And it may not be ideal for them to change in that way. This reorganization of your brain’s function clarifies the relationship between loss of hearing and cognitive decrease.
The areas of your brain which are responsible for hearing will be re-purposed for other functions like vision and touch. This lessens the brain’s available resources for processing sound, and it weakens our capability of understanding speech.
So, if you are constantly asking people to repeat themselves, loss of hearing has already begun. And even more important is the reality that your brain might already be beginning to restructure.
Can Hearing Aids Help
This talent of your brain has an upside and a negative. Neuroplasticity may make your hearing loss worse, but it also enhances the performance of hearing aids. Thanks to your brain’s ability to regenerate tissue and to reroute neural pathways, you can get the most from the advanced technology in your ear. Since the hearing aids stimulate the parts of the brain that regulate loss of hearing, they stimulate mental growth and development.
The American Geriatrics Society published a long term study, in fact. It found that wearing a set of hearing aids diminished cognitive decline in people with hearing loss. The study, titled Self-Reported Hearing Loss: Hearing Aids and Cognitive Decline in Elderly Adults: A 25-year Study, followed over three thousand adults over the age of 65. What the scientists found was that the speed of cognitive decline was higher in those with hearing loss compared to those with healthy hearing. However, participants that used hearing aids to correct their hearing loss showed no difference in the rate of cognitive decline compared to those with normal hearing.
The best part of this study is that we can verify what we already understand about neuroplasticity: if you don’t use it you will end up losing it because the brain organizes its functions according to the amount of stimulation it receives and the need at hand.”
Preserving a Youthful Brain
The brain is powerful and can adapt itself at any time regardless of how old you are. You should also take into consideration that hearing loss can hasten mental decline and that simply using hearing aids prevent or reduce this decline.
Hearing aids are high-tech hearing enhancement technology, not just over-the-counter amplifiers. According to leading brain plasticity expert Dr. Michael Merzenich, you can improve your brain function despite any health issues by pushing yourself to perform challenging new activities, being active socially, and practicing mindfulness amongst other strategies.
Hearing aids are a crucial part of ensuring your quality of life. Becoming isolated and withdrawn is common for those with hearing loss. Only by investing in a pair of hearing aids, you can ensure that you remain active and independent. Keep in mind that if you want your brain to stay as young as you feel it needs to keep processing sound and receiving stimulation.