Between hectic schedules and the disruptions of events, it’s all too easy to put off important appointments, like those with a hearing specialist or for fitting hearing aids. You may even find yourself hesitating to get hearing aids altogether. But hearing loss affects more than just your ears and delaying treatment can have negative effects on your whole life.
The connection to mental decline
Scientists have demonstrated a clear connection between neglected hearing loss and mental decline. This is one reason why delaying treatment is never a good plan.
Hearing loss will get worse if it goes untreated
Naturally, it’s evident that putting off treatment for hearing loss isn’t conducive to preserving your auditory health. By avoiding appointments with a hearing specialist or holding off on the purchase of hearing aids, you inadvertently subject your ears to additional damage.
You may find yourself constantly boosting the volume on your various devices, exacerbating the damage to your ears and speeding up the progression of hearing loss. Hearing aids can amplify specific frequencies of sound thereby slowing down the development of hearing loss.
The connection to cognitive function
Your brain and your hearing are intricately connected. Mental function can be severely impacted by untreated hearing loss according to some substantial research. Over time, mental decline can be worsened by depression and anxiety caused by social separation.
Moreover, long-term untreated hearing loss prompts the brain to adapt by reallocating resources from processing sound to other functions, such as visual processing, potentially complicating the restoration of normal hearing function down the road.
Navigating neuroplasticity
In this situation, neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to adapt, can be both a friend and a foe. The brain will have a hard time reverting back to its previous state after it rewires itself to accommodate for extended untreated hearing loss.
However, it’s not impossible to reverse these effects. In both the short and the long term, using hearing aids can bring considerable benefits even if you’ve put off on getting treatment for some time.
Schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist
You should obviously find treatment as soon as possible, but even if you’ve delayed for a while, it’s not too late to get help. Scheduling an appointment with us as soon as you can is important, ensuring you can enjoy better hearing and mental function moving forward. Call today!