Your hearing plays a crucial role in your overall health and well-being. Hearing doesn’t only allow you to be a part of the conversation and to hear the world around you, but it also keeps your brain active. Discover how your hearing is connected to cognitive decline and how you can be proactive during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.
When you have hearing loss, your brain has to work harder to simply understand what is being said. This often results in missing certain sounds and frequencies, and leaving you feeling exhausted after a conversation. Over time, this causes an excessive stress on the brain, making it difficult to retain new information.
Studies have shown that individuals with hearing loss experience a faster rate in cognitive decline compared to those with “normal” hearing. This is why it’s important to manage hearing loss at the first signs, in order to prevent any loss of cognitive function.
What Is the Connection Between Hearing and Cognitive Decline?
We don’t hear with our ears; we actually hear with our brains. This means, if you have hearing loss, the connections and areas of the brain that are associated with sound reorganize themselves. Because of that, research suggests that untreated hearing loss is linked to memory impairment and deteriorating cognitive function.When you have hearing loss, your brain has to work harder to simply understand what is being said. This often results in missing certain sounds and frequencies, and leaving you feeling exhausted after a conversation. Over time, this causes an excessive stress on the brain, making it difficult to retain new information.
Studies have shown that individuals with hearing loss experience a faster rate in cognitive decline compared to those with “normal” hearing. This is why it’s important to manage hearing loss at the first signs, in order to prevent any loss of cognitive function.