You’re supposed to wear your hearing aids daily. But before you recycle your milk containers, you’re supposed to rinse them out too. Sometimes, we don’t do the things we’re supposed to. It’s the same for hearing aids. Occasionally we forget to take them with us. You might even forget to wear it for more than one day.
That isn’t a really good idea. Because there are several things that happen (or continue to happen) when you don’t wear your hearing aids. And the majority of them, to be honest, aren’t very good.
Effects And Repercussions of Going Without Hearing Aids
There will be consequences of varying degrees of intensity and severity, both to your health and social life, if you fail to use your hearing aid. The effects and repercussions of neglecting to use your hearing aids could include the following.
Your Hearing Will Continue to Diminish
Hearing aids are remarkable devices. Not only do they let you hear sounds that you otherwise wouldn’t have, but they also keep your auditory complex running smoothly (that’s the region of your brain responsible for the interpretation of sounds).
You may damage your hearing even more if, instead of using your hearing aids, you start cranking the volume up on your devices even louder than they already are. Even if you’re not raising the volume, the lack of sensory input results in issues with your brain. (It actually shrinks.) So you’ll probably end up needing more powerful hearing aids in the future if you fail to use your current pair because your hearing will continue to get worse.
It Will Become More Difficult to Interact Socially
You know when you go to the market and you get into a short conversation with the cashier? They’re pleasant, we think. A nice little bit of humanity in a technology-driven world.
When you don’t use your hearing aids, these simple social connections can suddenly be a lot more challenging. You repeatedly miss parts of the conversation and need to ask people to repeat themselves. Over and over. And once that happens, the conversation just quickly becomes strained. That may not sound serious but every time a scenario like this occurs, you will tend to withdraw socially more and more. And the consequences can be even more significant.
Mental Decline And Hearing Aids
When you separate yourself socially, your brain gets a lot less exercise. After you have a pleasant conversation with your family, think about how revitalized (or exhausted) you can feel. Certain cognitive functions can begin to decline or decline faster without this exercise. This could mean:
- Memory problems
- Declines in energy or productivity
- Balance troubles
- Depression
But that’s not all. Because hearing sound is vitally important to certain parts of your brain and nervous system. Your auditory complex starts to atrophy when certain nerves begin to deteriorate from lack of stimulation. This can make it more difficult to get used to your new hearing aids and in the worst case accelerate the cognitive decline.
Hearing aids keep your brain active, stimulated, and happy (more or less).
Losing The Ability to be Independent
Needing a bit more help, as you get older, is not abnormal. Perhaps you ask a family member to go to the store for you or a neighbor to do some yard work. You are likely speeding up your loss of independence if you’re not wearing your hearing aids.
You can miss phone calls or lose parts of conversations with your neighbor when you don’t use your hearing aids. You could miss important weather alerts. Perhaps you fail to hear your dog barking when there’s someone at the door or your cat meowing at 6 am when he’s hungry.
What’s The Solution?
No matter how technologically advanced hearing aids become, they won’t resolve all of life’s problems. But they will solve a lot of the problems associated with not using your hearing aids.
If you’re having problems with your hearing aids or if they’re uncomfortable, that’s one thing (and you should talk to us about getting solutions to those specific problems).
But if you’re looking for reasons to refrain from wearing your hearing aids, if you’re just leaving them in the nightstand drawer, it’s worth taking some time to consider what could be gained by using them… and what could happen if you don’t wear your hearing aids.
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