The Comorbidities of Hearing Loss: What Happens When We Lose Our Hearing?
The term “comorbidities” might sound like confusing medical jargon, but what it means is quite simple. When we talk about comorbidities, we’re talking about illnesses and disorders that happen along with a primary, or main disorder.
Hearing loss is more than just something that happens as we age. It’s our brain that hears, not our ears – so it’s not at all uncommon to find other disorders occurring along with hearing loss.
So what happens when we lose our hearing? For some people with hearing loss, there are other medical disorders that might occur at the same time. These are the most common comorbidities of hearing loss, and what they could mean for you.
Dementia
Hearing loss isn’t just about losing the ability to perceive particular sounds. Hearing loss is a symptom of issues occurring within the brain – it’s our brain and not our ears that make sense of sound.
So, when someone begins to lose their hearing, this is often accompanied by dementia. That’s because as we lose our hearing, certain neural pathways that we use to process sound begin to deteriorate. Additional mental strain caused by hearing loss is what speeds up this deterioration that naturally occurs as we age. This deterioration is what is associated with dementia.
Studies have shown that those with greater hearing loss also have a greater chance of experiencing dementia. This is especially true of those with profound hearing loss, which can greatly expedite the deterioration of neural pathways.
Luckily, making steps to improve our hearing can have positive effects on symptoms of dementia. Using hearing aids early on in hearing loss can reduce the chances of dementia later on, as found by a study in Japan.
Depression
Hearing loss can have profoundly negative effects on our social lives and our relationships. As we begin to lose our hearing, our ability to have conversations or to hear in noisy environments is hindered. We become tired after social gatherings and often withdraw from situations where we might have a difficult time hearing.
This can lead to loneliness and disassociation with our loved ones – two surefire triggers for depression. Those that experience hearing loss are also more likely to experience anxiety and higher levels of stress, which can have physical symptoms like fatigue and an impaired immune system.
Hearing aids are a great way to counteract these effects of hearing loss. The right hearing aid can help you feel more social and able to hold conversations with loved ones, which means preventing or reversing the effects of depression.
Medications and Cancer Treatments
Though most experience hearing loss related to aging, some experience hearing loss because of ototoxic medications – or, medications that cause damage to our hearing. These medications include those associated with cancer treatments, which can have profound and lasting effects on hearing.
Of course, it’s not always possible to prevent these negative effects on our hearing, especially if these medications are necessary and life-saving. Thankfully, hearing aids can help us later on, by reducing or reversing the negative effects of hearing loss on our personal lives.
Hearing loss is a dynamic and multi-faceted disability – but there are many ways our team can help. Contact us to talk about your hearing needs or to schedule a hearing test!
You Don’t Have to Live with Untreated Hearing Loss
Desert Valley Audiology
(702) 605-9133