The Connection Between Hearing Loss And Overall Physical Health

Understanding how your body responds when something isn’t right is the most important thing you can do when things go wrong. Experiencing hearing loss is not the easiest thing to do, but one of the most obvious effects of hearing loss is your inability to communicate effectively with others. You want to be able to enjoy the typical sounds of everyday life, and you want to be able to enjoy conversations with friends or concerts in a busy venue.

When you are experiencing hearing loss however, those things are a little bit more difficult to manage. Did you know that any type of hearing loss can have an impact on your physical health just as your physical health can impact your hearing? Existing hearing loss, especially those that you don’t actually know exist and haven’t treated yet can really lead to a variety of health issues.

There are certain medical conditions and medications that can increase your risk of developing it, too. Understanding the connection between your physical health and hearing loss is important, and your audiologist will be able to walk you through it if there is an underlying issue that is causing the hearing loss in the first place.

Understanding how hearing loss affects your body will help you to manage those conditions as well as the hearing loss. So, what are the health conditions that are exacerbated or developed as a result of hearing loss?

Social Isolation

Hearing loss can result in your social isolation. Not only can you not hear people around you in one-to-one conversations or public spaces, but you can’t hear the TV, movies, theater or shows very well. This can lead to increased depression. This negative impact on your brain health is going to make it difficult for the brain to process and filter those sounds and sensory changes that your auditory system is in charge of.

Cognitive Decline

The lack of sound stimulus can stress the brain out and it can also then lead to further cognitive decline. There is a reason that the studies show that dementia and hearing loss go hand in hand. Memory loss and cognitive decline has been shown to affect those with hearing loss and have a 40% higher instance of these things happening.

When you cannot hear certain sounds, your personal safety is at risk, which increases the chances of trips, falls and other accidents that can cause other physical degradation of your body. In infants, hearing loss can delay language development and social skills. This doesn’t matter whether the hearing loss is due to an illness or due to congenital issues.

Medications

Medications for other conditions can affect your hearing. There has been research out there that shows that those who are dealing with diabetes are twice as likely to develop hearing loss, and this is generally because of the result of reduced blood flow. This reduced blood flow can damage the cells of the inner ear, but medications can also exacerbate that hearing loss. Heart disease may also be linked to hearing loss similarly to the effect of diabetes.
When there is not enough blood flow to the heart, the poor circulation to the vessels in the inner ear can then lead to further loss of hearing. Infections, viruses, bacterial colds and more can also cause temporary hearing loss. Swimmer’s ear is a well-known condition, and it’s very real.

Balance

Vertigo is a disorder of the inner ear that can lead to dizziness. This particular physical health condition can very much be disrupted by hearing loss. Meniere’s disease affects only one ear in most cases, and symptoms can result from a huge amount of fluid in the ear, your genetics or even a virus.

By reducing exposure to loud noises or wearing earplugs in noisy environments, maintaining a stable weight and blood pressure and embracing a healthy lifestyle, you can reduce the risk of hearing loss and other conditions that will affect you physically because of it.

If you are concerned about the link between hearing loss on your physical health and the best thing that you can do is speak to an audiologist and get an appointment as soon as you can. You should always bring any medical concerns to your doctor, as they will be the ones to tell you whether there is a condition going on or whether your hearing loss is just temporary.

You can get an appointment and learn more about The Hearing Clinic at Woodlake by calling us today at (612) 246-4868.