How hearing loss affects your mental health
Hearing loss affects your family, social, and work life since communication becomes more difficult and relationships strained.The struggle to hear and be heard often snowballs into mental health challenges: In 2017, the Hearing Health Foundation in the United States noted that hearing loss can increase one’s risk of developing mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety, and dementia.
“A 2014 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that 11.4% of adults with self-reported hearing impairment have moderate to severe depression. This is significantly higher than the 5.9% prevalence among those with typical hearing,” says Gené Zwarts, audiologist with the Ear Institute in Lynnwood, Pretoria.
For people with a hearing loss engaging in conversations is a daily struggle. This can lead to social isolation, loneliness, and depression. It also affects how we handle everyday activities such as answering the cashier at the grocery store or understanding the pharmacist explaining the use of medication, which causes a lot of anxiety. In fact, the World Health Survey found that people with hearing loss are more likely to suffer from anxiety than those without hearing loss.
Growing evidence also shows that people with hearing loss are more at risk of frequent confusion or memory loss.
“Several studies published by the JAMA found that if a person spends less time socialising and more time managing their hearing loss instead of higher-level thinking, it could lead to poorer cognitive functioning and faster medical decline. Its studies also found a link between hearing loss and the development of dementia,” Zwarts says.
Another study by the Johns Hopkins University in the United States found that the risk of developing dementia increases as one’s hearing declines. There is, however, no consensus yet about the link between hearing loss and cognitive decline.
What can be done?
Annual monitoring can help detect hearing problems early. Talk to your audiologist about the best ways to treat or manage your hearing impairment.
The Ear Institute has 27 branches in South Africa and in Namibia.