Putting off on essential appointments, like your hearing aid fitting, is all too easy amidst the hustle and bustle of daily events. You may even find yourself hesitating to get hearing aids altogether. But hearing loss affects more than only your ears and delaying treatment can have detrimental effects on your whole life.
The connection to mental decline
Scientists have proven a clear connection between untreated hearing loss and mental decline. This is one reason why delaying treatment is never a good plan.
Hearing loss will worsen if it’s neglected
Naturally, it’s evident that delaying treatment for hearing loss isn’t helpful for preserving your auditory health. By avoiding appointments with a hearing specialist or holding off on the purchase of hearing aids, you unintentionally subject your ears to further damage.
You may find yourself constantly increasing the volume on your various devices, worsening the damage to your ears and accelerating the progression of hearing loss. Wearing a hearing aid can help alleviate this by selectively amplifying particular frequencies, thereby delaying the advancement of hearing loss.
The connection between untreated hearing loss and cognitive function
There’s a direct link between your sense of hearing and your brain. Mental function can be seriously impacted by untreated hearing loss according to some significant research. Social solitude, frequently a consequence of diminished hearing, can lead to mental health problems including depression and anxiety, which in turn can exacerbate mental decline over time.
Moreover, long-term untreated hearing loss prompts the brain to adapt by reallocating resources from auditory processing to other functions, such as visual processing, potentially complicating the restoration of healthy hearing function later on.
Navigating neuroplasticity
The brain’s phenomenal ability to adapt, known as neuroplasticity, is both a friend and a foe in this situation. The brain will have a hard time reverting back to its previous state after it rewires itself to accommodate for extended untreated hearing loss.
However, it’s not impossible to undo these effects. Despite previous delays in getting treatment, utilizing hearing aids as prescribed by a specialist can still yield significant benefits in both the short and long term.
Make an appointment with a hearing specialist
While timely treatment is ideal, it’s never too late to deal with hearing loss. Making an appointment with us as soon as you can is crucial, ensuring you can enjoy better hearing and cognitive function going forward. Call today!
