Why Hearing Aids Can Enhance Your Memory

Woman with hearing loss doing dishes because she forgot to turn the dishwasher on.

Chris has been a little forgetful as of late. She missed her doctor’s appointment two months in a row (time to reschedule again). And she even overlooked running the dishwasher before bed (I guess this morning she will need to handwash her coffee cup). Things have been getting lost lately. Oddly, Chris doesn’t necessarily feel forgetful…she simply feels mentally drained and fatigued all the time.

It can be challenging to recognize that feeling until it’s sneaking up on you. Frequently, though, the problem isn’t your memory, despite how forgetful you may appear. The real problem is your hearing. And that means you can substantially improve your memory by wearing one little device.

How to Enhance Your Overall Cognitive Function And Memory

So, step one to improving your memory, to get everyone’s name right at your next meeting or to make sure you arrange that day off for your dentist appointment, is to get your hearing tested. A standard hearing examination will be able to figure out if you have hearing loss and how bad any impairment might be.

Chris hesitates, though, because she hasn’t noticed any signs or symptoms of hearing loss. She doesn’t really have a problem hearing in a crowded room. And she’s never had a tough time hearing any of her team members at work.

But she may have some amount of hearing loss even though she hasn’t noticed any symptoms yet. Actually, one of the first symptoms of hearing impairment is loss of memory. And strain on the brain is the underlying cause. Here’s how it works:

  • Your hearing begins to diminish, maybe so gradually you don’t realize.
  • Your ears detect a lack of sound, however slight.
  • Your brain begins working a little harder to translate and amplify the sounds you can hear.
  • Everything feels normal, but it takes more work on your brain’s part to make sense of the sounds.

Your brain only has so much processing power which can really be stressed by that type of strain. So things such as cognitive function and memory get pushed to the back.

Dementia And Hearing Loss

If you take memory loss to its most logical extremes, you might end up dealing with something like dementia. And there is a connection between dementia and hearing loss, though there are several other factors at work and the cause and effect relationship is still rather uncertain. Still, there is a higher danger of cognitive decline with individuals who have neglected hearing loss, which can begin as memory loss and eventually (over the years) become more extreme concerns.

Hearing Aids And Warding Off Fatigue

That’s the reason why managing your hearing loss is crucial. Significant improvement in cognitive function was observed in 97.3% of individuals with hearing loss who used hearing aids for at least 18 months according to one study.

Similar benefits have been noted in a variety of other studies. Hearing aids really help. Your overall cognitive function improves when your brain doesn’t have to struggle as hard to hear. Memory loss and problems with cognitive function can have numerous intricate factors and hearing aids aren’t always a magic bullet.

Memory Loss Can be The First Sign of Hearing Loss

This sort of memory loss is usually temporary, it’s a sign of exhaustion more than an underlying change in the way your brain operates. But that can change if the underlying problems remain un-addressed.

Memory loss, then, can be somewhat of an early warning system. When you first observe those symptoms, you should schedule an appointment with your hearing professional. Your memory will most likely return to normal when your underlying hearing problems are addressed.

And your hearing will probably improve as well. A hearing aid can help slow the decline in your hearing. In a sense, your general wellness, not only your memory, could be improved by these little devices.

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.