Age related hearing loss can have broad impacts across your entire life. Not only is your ability to hear impacted, but so too are your social connections, your professional networks, and even your cognitive abilities. Over time, hearing loss can profoundly impact the way your brain works in ways that directly impact your mood, your memory, and more.
The connection between cognition and hearing loss isn’t always obvious. For example, one of the earliest symptoms of hearing loss may be forgetfulness–but people rarely think that their memory troubles are linked to a loss of hearing. Unfortunately, the reality is that memory loss and hearing loss are closely linked.
What does hearing loss have to do with memory? Well, the connection is at least partly due to the unique ways that hearing loss can strain and stress your brain. Often, when your hearing loss symptoms are successfully managed, your cognitive abilities will improve.
How hearing loss impacts memory
Hearing loss can be difficult to notice. Often, people miss the early warning signs and more subtle symptoms. For these people hearing loss may only become evident once it has become moderate or severe. In part, that’s because hearing loss tends to progress quite slowly. It’s often easy to dismiss symptoms and, essentially, turn up the volume on your television a little more every few days (or weeks).
Additionally, the human brain is very good at compensating for intermittent loss of sounds. As a result, you may not notice that people are harder to understand. This is beneficial in that you will likely experience fewer interruptions to your daily life. However, compensating like this requires significant brain power. Requiring your brain to perform at this level for long durations can result in:
- Chronic fatigue
- Memory loss or forgetfulness
- Unexplained irritability
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, a hearing specialist will be able to tell you whether the root cause is hearing loss or not. In cases where hearing loss is present, you’ll work with your hearing specialist to develop a treatment plan.
Can hearing loss cause memory problems?
Of course, this fatigue isn’t the only way that hearing loss can impact your brain. Forgetfulness is often a prominent presentation. This is especially true of untreated hearing loss. The cause and effect relationship present is not entirely understood, but it’s clear that there is a connection between hearing loss and the following issues:
- Social isolation: Individuals with untreated hearing loss will often begin to isolate themselves from others. You’ll go out less often, chat with the cashier at the grocery store less, and so on. Over time, this kind of isolation can change the way your brain is working.
- Increased risk of dementia: People with untreated hearing loss have been known to exhibit an increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline. This risk drops dramatically when the hearing loss is treated and managed.
- Increased risk of depression and anxiety: Studies have shown that untreated hearing loss can also lead to increases in both depression and anxiety over time. Again, this risk has been shown to drop when the underlying hearing loss is successfully managed.
These issues are not unrelated, of course. Social isolation can exacerbate depression and other mental health issues. Likewise, that kind of isolation can also increase your risk of developing dementia.
Does hearing loss cause cognitive decline?
One of the more serious impacts of untreated hearing loss is a marked increase in your risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Scientists have a few theories about why this may be, but what’s clear is that management of symptoms helps significantly. In other words, treating your hearing loss has been shown to slow cognitive decline and lower your risk of developing dementia later in life.
How to handle your forgetfulness (and hearing loss)
If your fatigue and memory loss are caused by untreated hearing loss, the good news is that managing your hearing loss symptoms can definitely have a positive impact. For most people, this can begin with a trip to the hearing specialist to assess your hearing and diagnose any hearing loss you may be experiencing. In cases where hearing loss is detected, your hearing specialist may recommend the following:
- The use of hearing aids: Using a hearing can help you hear better. This can result in less strain on your cognitive abilities and an improvement in your social situation. By preventing and limiting social isolation, your cognition can improve, lowering your risk of dementia, depression, and other issues.
- Hearing protection: The use of hearing protection can prevent further degradation of your hearing–and, as a result, help prevent some of the cognitive strain described above.
- Regular screenings: Regular screenings can help you detect problems with your hearing before they become significant issues. Treating your hearing loss early can prevent cognitive strain.
You don’t have to stay forgetful!
If hearing loss is causing you to be a little forgetful, it’s important to emphasize that it doesn’t have to stay that way. In many cases, cognitive functions will return once your brain doesn’t need to strain so hard. When you hear better, your brain doesn’t have to work so hard–and that rest can do a world of good.
Meeting with your hearing specialist can drastically improve your outlook and reduce your risk for other issues. Contact a hearing specialist today!