When you’re a youngster, falling is just a part of life. Taking a spill on your bicycle? Not unusual. Tripping over your own feet while you’re running outside? Happens all of the time. It isn’t really a concern because, well, kids are kind of limber. They rebound very easily.
The same cannot be said as you get older. Falling becomes more and more of a worry as you age. One reason for this is that bones break easier and heal slower when you’re older. Older people tend to spend more time on the floor in pain because they have a more difficult time getting back up. Because of this, falls are the number one injury-connected cause of death in people older than 65.
That’s why tools and devices that can reduce falls are always being sought after by healthcare professionals. New research seems to indicate that we may have found one such device: hearing aids.
Can hearing loss bring about falls?
In order to understand why hearing aids can help prevent falls, it helps to ask a related question: is it possible that hearing loss can raise your risk of having a fall? It seems as if the answer might be, yes.
So why does hearing loss raise the danger of a fall for people?
There’s not really an intuitive association. After all, hearing loss does not directly impact your ability to move or see. But this kind of direct impact on your mobility, and an increased risk of falling, can be a result of some hearing loss symptoms. Some of those symptoms include:
- High-pitched sounds get lost: You know how when you go into an auditorium, you immediately detect that you’re in a spacious venue, even if you close your eyes? Or when you get into a car and you immediately know you’re in a small space? Your ears are actually using something similar to “echolocation” and high-frequency sound to help your spatial awareness. You will lose the ability to quickly make those judgment calls when hearing loss causes you to lose those high-pitched tones. This can cause disorientation and loss of situational awareness.
- Your situational awareness is impaired: You may not be capable of hearing the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps, the barking dog next door, or an approaching vehicle when you have neglected hearing loss. In other words, your situational awareness may be substantially affected. Can loss of hearing make you clumsy in this way? Well, in a way yes, day-to-day activities can become more dangerous if your situational awareness is jeopardized. And that means you may be slightly more likely to unintentionally stumble into something, and take a tumble.
- Loss of balance: How is your balance affected by hearing loss? Well, your inner ear is incredibly important to your total equilibrium. So when hearing loss affects your inner ear, you might find yourself a bit more likely to grow dizzy, experience vertigo, or have difficulty keeping your balance. In other words, you have a tendency to fall more frequently.
- Exhaustion: Your brain is working overtime and you’re always straining when you have untreated hearing loss. This means your brain is tired more often than not. An alert brain will detect and avoid obstacles, which will lessen the chance of having a fall.
- Depression: Social solitude and possibly even cognitive decline can be the outcome of untreated hearing loss. When you’re socially separated, you might be more likely to spend time at home, where tripping hazards are everywhere, and be less likely to have help close at hand.
Age is also a factor when it comes to hearing loss-related falls. You’re more likely to develop progressing and irreversible hearing loss. That will increase the chance of falling. As a result, when you get older, falls are more likely to have severe repercussions.
How can the risk of falling be decreased by wearing hearing aids?
If hearing loss is part of the issue, it makes sense that hearing aids should be part of the solution. And this is being validated by new research. One recent study found that wearing hearing aids could cut your risk of a fall in half.
The link between remaining on your feet and hearing loss wasn’t always this evident. In part, that’s because not everyone uses their hearing aids all of the time. So it was inconclusive how often hearing aid users were falling. This was because individuals weren’t wearing their hearing aids, not because their hearing aids were broken.
But this new study took a different (and perhaps more accurate) approach. Individuals who wore their hearing aids now and again were segregated from people who wore them all of the time.
So why does wearing your hearing aids help you prevent falls? They keep you less fatigued, more concentrated, and generally more vigilant. The increased situational awareness doesn’t hurt either. In addition, many hearing aids come with safety features created to activate in the case of a fall. Help will come quicker this way.
But the key here is to be sure you’re wearing your hearing aids frequently and regularly.
Prevent falls with new hearing aids
You will be able to stay close to your family members if you wear hearing aids, not to mention catch up with friends.
They can also help prevent a fall!
If you want to know more about how hearing aids could help you, schedule an appointment with us today.