4 Ways Hearing Loss Can Impact Your General Health

Let’s face it, there’s no getting away from aging, and with it often comes hearing loss. You can take some steps to look younger but you’re still aging. But you might not be aware that several treatable health conditions have also been associated with hearing loss. Here’s a look at some examples, #2 might surprise you.

1. Diabetes could affect your hearing

The fact that hearing loss and diabetes have a link is pretty well understood. But why would diabetes give you a higher risk of developing hearing loss? Well, science doesn’t provide all the answers here. Diabetes is known to harm the kidneys, eyes, and extremities. Blood vessels in the inner ear might, theoretically, be getting destroyed in a similar way. But it could also be related to general health management. A 2015 study revealed that individuals with overlooked diabetes had worse outcomes than people who were treating and managing their diabetes. It’s significant to get your blood sugar tested if you think you might have overlooked diabetes or are prediabetic. By the same token, if you have trouble hearing, it’s a good plan to reach out to us.

2. Increased risk of falling associated with hearing loss

Why would having difficulty hearing cause a fall? Although our ears play an important part in helping us balance, there are other reasons why hearing loss might get you down (in this case, quite literally). People with hearing loss who have taken a fall were the subjects of a recent study. Though this study didn’t delve into what had caused the subjects’ falls, the authors suspected that having trouble hearing what’s around you (and missing important sounds such as a car honking) could be one problem. At the same time, if you’re working hard to concentrate on the sounds around you, you could be distracted to your environment and that may also result in a higher risk of falling. The good news here is that treating hearing loss could potentially reduce your risk of having a fall.

3. Treat high blood pressure to safeguard your hearing

High blood pressure and hearing loss have been closely linked in some studies indicating that high blood pressure might speed up hearing loss related to aging. This kind of news might make you feel like your blood pressure is actually rising. But it’s a connection that’s been discovered fairly consistently, even when controlling for variables such as noise exposure and whether you’re a smoker. (Please don’t smoke.) The only variable that makes a difference appears to be gender: The connection between hearing loss and high blood pressure is even stronger if you’re a man.

Your ears have a very close relation to your circulatory system. Two of your body’s main arteries are positioned right by your ears and it contains many tiny blood vessels. This is one reason why people who have high blood pressure frequently experience tinnitus, the pulsing they’re hearing is actually their own blood pumping. That’s why this kind of tinnitus is known as pulsatile tinnitus; you hear your pulse. But high blood pressure could also possibly result in physical harm to your ears, that’s the main theory behind why it would speed up hearing loss. Every beat of your heart will have more force if it’s pumping blood harder. The small arteries in your ears could potentially be damaged as a result. High blood pressure is manageable through both lifestyle changes and medical treatments. But even if you don’t think you’re old enough for age-related hearing loss, if you’re having difficulty hearing, you should call us for a hearing test.

4. Cognitive decline and hearing loss

Even though a powerful link between mental decline and hearing loss has been well established, scientists are still not completely sure what the link is. The most prevalent theory is that people with untreated hearing loss often withdraw from social interaction and become debilitated by lack of stimulus. The stress of hearing loss overloading the brain is another theory. When your brain is working extra hard to process sound, there might not be very much brainpower left for things like memory. Playing “brain games” and keeping your social life active can be very helpful but the best thing you can do is treat your hearing loss. Social situations will be easier when you can hear clearly and instead of struggling to hear what people are saying, you can focus on the essential stuff.

Schedule an appointment with us as soon as possible if you suspect you may be experiencing hearing loss.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3889339/