Many people just accept hearing loss as a part of growing old like gray hair or reading glasses. But a study from Duke-NUS Medical School reveals a connection between general health and hearing loss.
Senior citizens with hearing or vision loss commonly struggle more with cognitive decline, depression, and communication problems. That’s something you may have already read about. But one thing you may not recognize is that life expectancy can also be affected by hearing loss.
People with untreated hearing loss, according to this study, might actually have a reduced lifespan. And, the likelihood that they will have a hard time performing activities needed for daily life almost doubles if the individual has both hearing and vision impairment. It’s a problem that is both a physical and a quality of life concern.
While this might sound like bad news, there is a silver lining: there’s a variety of ways that hearing loss can be managed. More significantly, serious health issues can be revealed if you have a hearing exam which could inspire you to lengthen your life expectancy by paying more attention to your health.
Why is Hearing Loss Associated With Inferior Health?
While the research is compelling, cause and effect are still unclear.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins note that seniors with hearing loss tended to have other issues, {includingsuch as} high rates of smoking, increased heart disease, and stroke.
These results make sense when you know more about the causes of hearing loss. Countless cases of tinnitus and hearing loss are tied to heart disease since high blood pressure affects the blood vessels in the ear canal. When you have shrunken blood vessels – which can be a consequence of smoking – the blood in the body has to push harder to keep the ears (and everything else) functioning which brings about higher blood pressure. High blood pressure in older adults with hearing impairment often causes them to hear a whooshing sound in their ears.
Hearing loss has also been connected to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other types of cognitive decline. Hearing specialists and other health professionals think there are several reasons why the two are connected: the brain needs to work harder to decipher conversations and words for one, which taps out the brain’s capacity to do anything else. In other scenarios, difficulty communicating causes people with hearing loss to be less social. This social isolation leads to anxiety and depression, which can have a major impact on a person’s mental health.
How Hearing Loss Can be Managed by Older Adults
There are a number of solutions available to deal with hearing loss in older adults, but as the studies reveal, it’s smart to deal with these issues early before they impact your total health.
Hearing aids are one type of treatment that can be very effective in fighting your hearing loss. There are small discreet versions of hearing aids that are Bluetooth ready and an assortment of other options are also available. Also, basic quality of life has been improving because of hearing aid technology. As an example, they enable you to hear better during your entertainment by allowing you to connect to your phone, computer, or TV and they block out background sound better than older versions.
Older adults can also go to a nutritionist or consult with their doctor about changes to their diet to help prevent further hearing loss. There are connections between iron deficiency anemia and hearing loss, for instance, which can often be treated by adding more iron into your diet. A better diet can help your other medical conditions and help you have better general health.