Hearing aids are meant to be worn daily. But before you recycle your milk jugs, you’re supposed to wash them out too. Sometimes, we don’t do the things we’re supposed to. So yeah, you forget to take your hearing aids out of the nightstand drawer occasionally. Perhaps you even go a day, or a week, or maybe a few weeks (a month?) without wearing your hearing aids.
That isn’t a very smart idea. Because there are a number of things that happen (or continue to happen) when you don’t use your hearing aids. And, to be honest, most of them are rather bad.
Consequences of Forgetting to Wear Your Hearing Aids
Much of what occurs when you fail to use your hearing aids will impact both your hearing health and your social life, each with varying levels of severity and intensity. Here are a few of those effects and consequences.
Your Hearing Will Continue to Diminish
The technology of hearing aids is fairly remarkable. Not only do they let you hear sounds that you normally wouldn’t have, but they also keep your auditory complex running efficiently (that’s the region of your brain responsible for interpreting sounds).
You could damage your hearing even more if, instead of using your hearing aids, you start cranking up the volume on your devices even louder than they already are. Even if you’re keeping the volumes under control, issues with your brain can result from the lack of sensory stimuli. (It actually shrinks.) So if you don’t wear your hearing aids, your hearing will likely continue to get worse (which means you’ll need even more powerful hearing aids before long).
Social Interactions Will Become More Difficult (And Less Frequent)
You know when you go to the store and you get into a short conversation with the cashier? They’re enjoyable, we think. In a world dominated by technology, these little talks are a touch of humanity.
These normal social interactions suddenly become really hard when you don’t use your hearing aids. You have to ask the cashier to repeat what they said. Over and over. And once that happens, the conversation just quickly falls apart. That may not sound serious but each time a scenario like this occurs, you will tend to retreat socially more and more. And the result can be even more significant.
Mental Decline And Hearing Aids
Your brain doesn’t get nearly as much exercise when you seclude yourself. Think about how revitalized (or exhausted) you can feel after a good conversation or an enjoyable evening dinner with your family. Certain cognitive functions can begin to decline or decline faster without this exercise. This could mean:
- Depression
- Balance troubles
- Declines in energy or productivity
- Memory problems
But there’s more. Because hearing sound is vitally essential to certain parts of your brain and nervous system. Your auditory complex begins to atrophy when certain nerves begin to weaken from lack of stimulus. This can make it more difficult to adapt to your new hearing aids and in the worst case speed up mental decline.
Your brain stays happy, stimulated, and active when you use hearing aids.
Loss of Independence
Needing a little more help, as you age, is not uncommon. Maybe you ask a family member to go shopping for you or a neighbor to do some yard work. If you aren’t wearing your hearing aid, you could be expediting the loss of independence that frequently accompanies aging.
You can miss phone calls or lose parts of conversations with your neighbor when you don’t wear your hearing aids. It’s possible that you will miss important alerts. Maybe you don’t hear your cat meowing for food at night or your dog barking at someone ringing your doorbell.
What’s The Solution?
No matter how technologically sophisticated hearing aids get, they won’t resolve all of life’s problems. But many of the issues connected to failing to wear your hearing aid can be solved.
You should come see us for assistance if you’re having difficulty with your hearing aids or if they are not comfortable.
It’s worth taking a little time to consider what the repercussions will be if you avoid wearing your hearing aids and also what the benefits of using them might be.
Call Today to Set Up an Appointment
References
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/otolaryngology/specialty_areas/hearing/faq.html
https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20140128/hearing-loss-tied-to-faster-brain-shrinkage-with-age
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/ce-corner-isolation
