Over the years, hearing aids have had a stigma. If you use one, people might think of you as old. The result?
Many people, both young and old, decide against hearing aids and suffer needlessly from hearing loss, which is actually linked to several health concerns. This is reinforced by the numbers: 30 million people in the United States suffering from hearing loss, yet only about 15 percent of that group has ever worn a hearing aid.
Additionally, the youth are suffering from hearing loss in greater numbers than they ever have: a WHO report from 2015 forecasted that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults would injure their hearing irreparably due to excessive use of headphones and extremely loud music events.
Still, progressing technology and shifting perceptions have started to frame hearing aids in a new light, and people are starting to look at them in a similar way they look at eye-glasses.
If You Need Hearing Aids, You Should Wear Them, This Is Why
There are a ton of reasons why wearing hearing aids is a good idea, some of them are unexpected and some are obvious.
Several of the most common reasons are as follows:
- You’re able to hear better (As noted, there were some obvious ones on the list)
- You can enjoy social activities and settings again
- You’ll be able to earn more money
- You won’t need to turn the music or TV up
- Conversations will be much smoother
- You’re brain won’t have to work as hard
- You can minimize tinnitus symptoms
Are these reasons sounding beneficial to you? Some advantage can be gained by using hearing aids even for individuals with slight hearing loss.
What many people don’t know is that hearing loss is connected to cognitive decline, mental health issues, and conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies point to a few different reasons why this may occur, this includes the overworking of the brain as it struggles to understand sounds that it hears. It might be that the brain cells don’t receive enough stimulation so they shrink and die, or it could be connected to social isolation, which is a major cause of depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
Hearing aids can change things for the better by letting you hear clearly and comprehend the words and sounds near you. Your brain won’t have to make use of extra resources and will be capable of processing sounds in a standard way, while you’ll gain the confidence and ability to enjoy social experiences and conversations again.
Technological Developments in Hearing Aids
By now it should be obvious why people of any age need to use hearing aids if they need them. Now it’s time to discover how hearing aids have progressed in the last few years.
The bulky, over-the-ear hearing aids are still available for the people who like them. They do their task adequately and have progressed to the point where the majority of them don’t have a problem filtering out background noises such as wind or determining which direction sound comes from. Conversely, there are new and improved versions of hearing aids that have advanced technology which makes it effortless for them to fit in with today’s digital world and are almost unnoticeable.
Is syncing your hearing aids up with your Bluetooth devices like your tv, cellphone, or tablet something you would want to do? Then you’re in luck since the majority of modern hearing aids feature Bluetooth technology that allows them to sync to a variety of devices. There are even higher-end models that can stream music, keep track of your physical activity, and automatically take and make phone calls for you. Hearing aids nowadays are designed to do more – just like your smartwatch and smartphone, smart hearing aids will come to be a must-have accessory for anybody suffering from hearing impairment. Are you ready to face hearing loss and buy yourself a hearing aid? Get in touch with us to discover what kind of hearing aid will work best for you.
