Hearing Health is Brain Health How Hearing Aids Keep Your Brain Fit By Holly Thibodeau, Ed. D I


magine, after practicing for weeks, your daughter is saying grace for the very fi rst time at your family’s Thanksgiving gather- ing. For you, the proudest moment of all was going to be the


look on your mother’s face as your daughter so eloquently recites her words. Instead, your mother was expressionless. It was plain and simple. She couldn’t hear your daughter’s sweet voice from across the table. The moment was missed. It was gone.


This scene is all too familiar in many homes during the holi-


days to the degree that some family members may choose to dis- engage from conversations after pretending to follow along. It can be just too diffi cult trying to constantly decipher all the moving parts and to make sense of so much information. Yes, a conversa- tion is heard, but the words are not understood.


Hearing Aid? Me? Are you or someone you love having trouble hearing, but reluctant to consider hearing aids? Most often, hearing loss sneaks up on you. Suddenly, one day, you notice that you no longer hear your cat purring or the birds singing. Perhaps you experience diffi culty understanding when two or more people are talking or frequently ask people to repeat themselves. Believe it or not, the average time someone with hearing loss waits to seek treatment is nine years! Understandably so, it’s not easy to come to grips with the notion of wearing hearing aids...It may feel, dare I say… old. Well, here’s the good news. Today’s hearing devices are not the big ‘ole bananas on top of your ears from the olden days. The ‘not so good news’ is, if you do have a hearing loss, and nothing is done about it, then that’s nine years of cognitive decline that is easily preventable.


Social isolation and diminished quality of life are just a few of the potential downsides of waiting. For the fi rst time, we are see- ing scientifi c evidence about hearing loss and healthy brain aging


16 ELM Maine - November/December 2017


that may provide just the incentive you need. Studies have shown correlations between hearing loss in aging adults and a greater risk of cognitive decline and possibly the onset of dementia. People experience a rapid deterioration in memory, language, thinking and judgment. “When you actively use hearing aids, you are more likely to stay socially engaged, one of the primary ways to stimu- late your brain,” says Kelly Mitchell of Southern Maine Audiology in Falmouth. “And like any exercise, the mental give-and-take of social interaction helps to keep your brain fi t and slow down the accelerated decline linked to hearing loss.” Hearing loss is the most common chronic health condition affecting aging adults. However, despite numerous studies showing the link between hearing loss and the risk of cognitive decline, less than 75% of people with hearing loss who could benefi t from hearing aids actually use them.


Hearing Power is Brain Power


Although hearing loss is most commonly considered an inner- ear problem, it is actually your brain that performs several func- tions simultaneously to process sound. It uses your ears to help ground your body position, recognize sounds, zero in on sounds you want to hear, and separate important information from irrel- evant noise. It’s your brain that does the lion’s share of the work.


Therefore, if left untreated, hearing loss tremendously affects


your daily living. When the hearing nerves lose their function and no longer channel sound signals to your brain, it “forgets” the sounds over time and becomes unable to understand them. The brain center for hearing stores sounds for up to three years follow- ing the onset of a hearing loss. Thereafter, your memory becomes weaker and weaker. Thus, it is important to have your hearing tested and hearing aids fi tted when you fi rst discover that you are losing some of your hearing.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36