Hearing Loss and Isolation is a subject that affects many. Think about it: the way you hear is linked to almost all of your social behavior. From talking with good friends to navigating traffic on a busy street. Or enjoying a sports game, a concert or a movie, your hearing is front and center. It’s not a surprise that when you have problems hearing, many other facets of your life suffer.
In fact, hearing loss has a big impact on your quality of life. The close relationship between isolation and loss of mobility proves how important hearing issues are and the importance of addressing them.
Hearing and Your Social Life
In particular, your hearing shapes your quality of life. Social connection relies on understanding speech, following conversations, and picking up on sound cues. Enjoying events and activities like movies, theater, sports and concerts often depend on being able to keep up with conversations, lyrics, and commentary.
Unfortunately, hearing loss can feel like it is pulling you away from the people and activities you care about most. Hearing loss makes even everyday activities harder to complete. It also makes close relationships with others harder to keep up with. For many people with hearing loss, staying connected can become hard and frustrating work.
Hearing Loss and Isolation
The changes in hearing loss often happen slowly over time, making it hard to pinpoint when your hearing is changing your behavior. However, when hearing loss goes untreated, those changes do happen. While changing social patterns may seem minor at first, it can alter our connection to others. It also increases the risk of isolation.
Isolation involves lowered activity and a lack of communication and connection with others. It isn’t just about social health either, those living this way see it harm their physical, emotional, and mental health. It can also drive other quality of life issues like depression and anxiety. These become more likely when hearing loss is left unaddressed.
Hearing and Your Mobility
When your hearing suffers, it becomes harder to pick up on the sound cues in your close surroundings. Busy and noisy environments can be very hard for people with hearing loss. They are less likely to go somewhere new because of the challenges of hearing loss. Because of the risk of discomfort and being vulnerable, untreated hearing loss often limits a person’s travel and mobility.
Recent research in Finland has shown the impact hearing loss makes on mobility. A study following more than 800 people over 2 years found that people with hearing loss were twice as likely to limit their activities to a small and local area. Those with healthy hearing maintained a wider radius of mobility. The self-imposed restrictions on mobility are likely the result of coping with hearing challenges.
Treating Hearing Loss
It isn’t all bad news. While most hearing loss is long-lasting, most of it can be treated with hearing aids. Hearing aids help restore a full range of sound to your hearing and can make navigating noisy situations much easier and less frustrating. With the help of hearing aids, you can move through the world more assuredly.
Using hearing aids helps support your personal relationships as well by making it easier to follow conversations and pick up on verbal cues. From talking on the phone with your best friend to catching up with your family at a big holiday dinner, the support hearing aids offer keeps you in the loop. By helping your hearing, hearing aids also work against the forces that connect untreated hearing loss with isolation and mobility issues.
Hearing Group
It isn’t just if you treat your hearing loss, it is also how you treat hearing loss. Finding the right hearing aids for your needs can make all the difference. That’s where Hearing Group can help. We specialize in meeting your specific needs. That means we work with you every step of the way to understand your hearing issues and connect you with effective solutions.
If you have noticed changes in your hearing, the time to act is now. While hearing aids can help people with all levels of hearing loss, treating hearing loss is easier the earlier it is addressed. So, why wait? Contact Hearing Group today and start on the path to hearing health!