If you’ve been diagnosed with hearing loss in Portland, it will probably take some time to come to terms with your condition. This is perfectly understandable; a hearing impairment will affect many facets of your everyday life. The good news? The majority of patients with hearing loss benefit from the use of hearing aids. If you’re on the fence about wearing them, there are some important factors to take into consideration that should help convince you to give them a try.
Benefits of Wearing Hearing Aids
Nobody wants to experience hearing loss; even those with overly chatty and opinionated in-laws would likely prefer to tune them out than not hear them in the first place. But once you have been diagnosed, there is no turning back; hearing loss is irreversible, the result of damage to the hair cells in your cochlea. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away, and in fact, doing so will only make things much worse in the long run. Untreated hearing loss has been linked to a wide range of physical, psychological and social ailments. A partial list includes:
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Irritability
- Depression
- Loneliness/Isolation
- Dementia
- Diabetes
- Chronic Kidney Disease
Hearing aids can help prevent these and other consequences of untreated hearing loss and will make it easier to communicate with others, allowing you to enjoy a more active lifestyle and a better overall quality of life. Satisfaction rates for hearing aid users are very high – around 91 percent, a number that continues to grow as technological improvements lead to better sound and more features. If you’re worried what others might think about your hearing aids, first off, stop. Your top concern should be your own health and welfare. In any case, some hearing aids are worn deep in the ear canal, making them virtually invisible to others. Chances are, people might never even know you’re wearing them.
Other benefits of wearing hearing aids include:
- Improved relationships with friends, loved ones and others.
- Slower hearing deterioration and cognitive decline.
- Improved safety (ability to hear smoke alarms, sirens, car horns, etc.).
- Increased earning power.
- Less chance of dealing with distracting tinnitus.
With so many positives associated with hearing aids, why wouldn’t you want to wear them? A qualified audiologist in Portland can help answer any questions you might have about hearing aids and will help you take those important steps toward a better way of life.