If you’ve ever lived with untreated hearing loss, it’s likely you’ve at some point felt alone in the presence of others. German philosopher Immanual Kant is believed to have said, “Not seeing separates us from things. Not hearing separates us from people”.
Hearing problems can cause you to withdraw and become socially isolated. They can prevent you from visiting friends, relatives or neighbours as often as you’d like. And they can also drive a wedge into our most intimate relationships.
Increasing evidence shows it’s essential that you seek help if you find your hearing loss is stifling your relationships and keeping you on the outskirts of the social activities you enjoy.
There are HUGE correlations between loneliness and well being
According to a 10-year study of older people in Adelaide, satisfying friendships predict longevity better than even close family ties. They can even protect against obesity, depression, and heart disease, among other health problems.
Other studies link social well-being with lower levels of interleukin-6 in otherwise healthy people. Interleukin-6 is an inflammatory factor implicated in age-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer.
Brooke Aggarwal, a researcher in preventive cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital said, “We experience feelings of loneliness when we feel that what we’re getting from our relationships falls short of what we expect.”
A recent study has linked a lonely heart to an 80 percent increase in the risk of heart disease – albeit, surprisingly, only in women.
Untreated hearing loss puts a strain on relationships
It’s easy to see why people with untreated hearing loss start to withdraw.
Greg is the perfect example. Before he came to us, he found it exhausting trying to follow conversations, particularly in a group of more than three people. He felt like he was missing out on the day to day happenings of his friend’s and family’s lives. He was frustrated, and so were they.
This is such a common scenario. And it’s not uncommon for your significant others to feel just as isolated as you do when you start to withdraw from family and friends and the social outings you’d once attend together.
Hearing aids help you focus the important things
The difference a properly tuned pair of hearing aids can make is like night and day. Conversation is immediately easier. It flows without being stilted with interruptions and pardons for repetition. And you don’t have to fill in the blanks when you’ve given up asking for things to be repeated.
While you don’t need a study to understand how hearing aids can help combat loneliness, researchers from a 2015 study published in the American Journal of Audiology found “a significant decline in perceptions of loneliness following 4 to 6 weeks of hearing aid use,” and concluded that “hearing aid use appears to be a buffer against the experience of loneliness.”