Could Hearing Loss Influence Your Longevity?

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A miracle cure that can help lengthen your lifespan is something pretty much everyone would want. In fact, a quick internet search will likely return thousands of such miracle cures (if not more), each promising to help you live longer thanks to one simple trick. The vast majority of these alleged cures have no medical foundation and are not supported by the healthcare community.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything to positively impact your lifespan. Your expected lifespan can be positively affected by quitting smoking and eating a healthy diet.

This is also true of treating hearing loss by using hearing aids. And a multidisciplinary publication that focuses on healthy aging, called The Lancet Healthy Longevity, has recently released research that reinforces this. So, will using hearing aids to manage hearing loss help improve longevity? There’s a strong likelihood that it will according to this research.

Is hearing loss a health risk?

Researchers have been aware of the connection between overall wellness and hearing health for quite a while. For instance, it has been well established that untreated hearing loss can substantially raise your risk of cognitive decline later in life.

These risks, however, are largely unknown by most individuals. They think about hearing loss as an isolated inconvenience, something that only impacts one very specific part of their life. But the truth is that hearing loss is more than a simple nuisance, especially when left untreated.

The link between lifespan and hearing loss

In the majority of cases, treatment for hearing loss involves using hearing aids as much as possible. So does this mean that you can decrease your risk of early death by using hearing aids? According to this newest study, possibly. There is a 24% reduction in mortality risk for people with hearing loss who regularly use hearing aids, as reported by this study. The participants in this study, in other words, who used their hearing aids, tended to live longer.

The benefits of hearing aids

The research published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity is not exactly definitive proof that hearing aids will help you have a longer life (although the study does strongly indicate a relationship). But we already have a large body of evidence about the many benefits of using hearing aids and this just adds to that body.

  • It will be easier to function in social situations. This will help your general well-being by decreasing your feelings of social solitude.
  • You can prevent accidents and injuries by being more conscious of your environment.
  • Hearing aids can help you enjoy day-to-day moments with friends and family, from going out to eat with colleagues to asking your grandkids about their school day.
  • Cognition can be enhanced by using hearing aids. This means that you (and your brain) will probably be less exhausted and healthier over time.

Whenever you wear your hearing aids, you will feel these improvements to your life. For these reasons alone, hearing aids are an important part of treating your hearing loss.

Hearing is an essential part of your health and wellness

The more we discover about the relationships between hearing loss and the rest of your body, the more scientists have come to recognize that your hearing is an exceptionally significant part of your overall health and wellness. If you have hearing loss, getting diagnosed and wearing hearing aids can substantially reduce your early mortality risks.

If you suspect that you may have some amount of hearing loss, it’s time to give us a call for a consultation.

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.