You’re supposed to wear your hearing aids daily. But you’re also supposed to wash out your milk jugs before recycling them. Occasionally, we don’t do the things we’re supposed to. So yeah, you forget to take your hearing aids out of the nightstand drawer now and then. You might even forget to wear it for more than one day.
That isn’t a really good idea. Because when you don’t use your hearing aids a number of things occur and some things already happening get worse. And most of them, honestly, aren’t very good.
Consequences of Neglecting to Use Your Hearing Aids
Much of what happens when you don’t use your hearing aids will affect both your hearing health and your social life, each with varying levels of severity and intensity. Here are a few of those effects and repercussions.
Your Hearing Will Continue to Diminish
The technology of hearing aids is rather remarkable. Not only do they allow you to hear sounds that you normally wouldn’t have, but they also keep your auditory complex running smoothly (that’s the region of your brain responsible for interpreting sounds).
You might damage your hearing even more if, instead of wearing your hearing aids, you begin cranking the volume up on your devices even louder than they already are. Even if you aren’t raising the volume, the missing sensory input contributes to issues with your brain. (It actually shrinks.) So if you don’t use your hearing aids, your hearing will likely continue to get worse (so you’ll need even more powerful hearing aids in the near future).
Social Interactions Will Become More Stressful (And Less Frequent)
You know when you go to the store and you get into a short discussion with the cashier? Those conversations are pleasant. In a world of technology, these little chats are a touch of humanity.
These everyday social interactions suddenly become really hard when you don’t wear your hearing aids. You need to ask the cashier to repeat what they said. Again and again. And after that, the conversation just quickly falls apart. Perhaps that sounds superficial, but every bit you withdraw into yourself makes it that much easier for you to entirely seclude yourself socially. And the result can be even more significant.
Mental Decline And Hearing Aids
When you isolate yourself socially, your brain gets a lot less exercise. Think about how invigorated (or exhausted) you can feel after a good conversation or an enjoyable evening dinner with your family. Certain cognitive functions can begin to decline or decline faster without this exercise. This could mean:
- Balance troubles
- Declines in productivity or energy
- Depression
- Memory problems
But there’s more. Because hearing sound is vitally essential to certain parts of your nervous system and brain. Your auditory complex starts to atrophy when certain nerves begin to weaken from lack of stimulus. This can make it more difficult to adjust to your new hearing aids and in the worst case speed up mental decline.
Your brain remains happy, stimulated, and engaged when you use hearing aids.
Losing The Ability to be Independent
Needing a little more help, as you age, is not abnormal. Perhaps you get a neighbor to mow your lawn or ask your son to swing by with supplies more often. If you aren’t wearing your hearing aid, you could be expediting the loss of independence that often accompanies aging.
When you don’t wear your hearing aids, it can quickly become more difficult to answer the phone or have a conversation with your neighbor. It’s possible that you will miss important alerts. Perhaps you fail to hear your dog barking when there’s somebody at the door or your cat meowing in the morning when he needs food.
What’s The Solution?
Using a hearing aid won’t solve all of life’s issues, no matter how technologically inventive those little devices become. But they will solve a lot of the problems associated with not wearing your hearing aids.
You should come see us for assistance if you’re having difficulty with your hearing aids or if they’re not comfortable.
It’s worth taking a little time to think about what the repercussions will be if you avoid wearing your hearing aids and also what the benefits of using them may be.
Call Today to Set Up an Appointment
References
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/otolaryngology/specialty_areas/hearing/faq.html
https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20140128/hearing-loss-tied-to-faster-brain-shrinkage-with-age
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation
