The Connection Between Hearing Loss and Depression
Almost every area of our lives—from thoughts and feelings to daily activities—is impacted by our mental health. Hearing loss limits your ability to communicate efficiently, which can negatively impact your mental well-being and cause despair, anxiety, and stress.
Untreated hearing loss might make mental health issues like depression more likely. Regular hearing evaluations and seeking therapy can be beneficial. Without treatment or rehabilitation for hearing loss, the inability to hear and understand clearly results in a separation from others, which feeds sadness, loneliness, and isolation and can result in a lack of energy and desire to participate in activities with others.
How Depression and Hearing Loss are Connected
The Social Aspect of Hearing Loss
If you have problems hearing in social settings, you may start avoiding things like family gatherings, parties, weddings, vacations, and activities where there will be big crowds of people, mingling, loud background noise, and music.
Over time, you may eventually withdraw to the background, becoming a spectator rather than an active participant. This can have a profound emotional and social impact on how you view yourself and live your life, making you feel less significant to other people and the happenings in the world.
Grieving What is Lost
For us to communicate our emotions, explain who we are, exchange ideas, and relate to others about how we see the world and how we feel about them, language and communication through speaking and hearing are crucial. The grieving process can start when dealing with hearing loss head-on and can last for a while.
Stress, Anxiety, and Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is associated with higher chances of stress or anxiety in adults. You may be concerned that you won’t hear certain words during a conversation or that you will reply in the wrong way because you misheard what was said.
It might also be difficult to tell what people are saying from background noise in social situations. For a person with considerable hearing loss, busy environments like restaurants, coffee shops, and other public spaces sound jumbled rather than like normal speech.
Sleep Changes, Anger, Irritability
Often, you may not realize the signs of depression right away. It helps to understand some common symptoms such as sleep changes, anger, and irritability. Anxiety, melancholy, mood fluctuations, and irritability are a few of the behavioural changes that have also been associated with a lack of sleep.
Your depression might be brought on by hearing loss or made worse by it. Addressing it may have a favourable impact on mental health.
The Dangers of Hearing Loss
If neglected, hearing loss in adults can be physically harmful in addition to the problems it poses to their mental health. For instance, they might not be able to hear the smoke detector sounding to alert them to a fire. They may also miss the sound of a vehicle approaching or be unable to understand instructions from their doctor.
Can Depression Cause Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a disorder whereby individuals hear a buzzing or ringing in the ear. It is annoying and makes it difficult for some people to go about their regular tasks. Tinnitus, depression, and anxiety are strongly correlated.
Even though tinnitus cannot be cured, digital hearing aids offer features that might reduce symptoms.
Hearing Loss Treatment Options
Depending on the type and severity of your hearing loss, your audiologist will determine the best treatment. Some of these include:
Hearing Aids
A hearing aid can be beneficial in many cases of hearing loss. They are proven to enhance people’s social, emotional, and psychological well-being in addition to making it easier for them to hear.
Training/Counseling
An individual with hearing loss can communicate more effectively and lessen the effects of their hearing loss with the help of auditory training.
Additionally, specialists who deal with hearing loss can offer guidance about how various environments would promote or prevent effective communication.
Assistive Listening Devices
Assistive listening devices allow a connection to gadgets, making communication easier.
The five types of ALDs include infrared systems, Bluetooth systems, audio induction loops, FM systems, and the personal amplified system. Cell phones and other mobile devices can be compatible with hearing aids, and they also make TV-compatible gadgets and alerting gadgets.
Therapy
Seeing a psychologist with experience working with hard-of-hearing individuals can help boost your emotional stability and improve your well-being.
Encourage a Hearing Test
You could be eager to lend a hand if you have a family member, acquaintance, or someone in your circle who has trouble hearing.
Bear in mind that not everyone will be eager to receive the hearing aids or treatment they require, and others may not even be aware that they should see a specialist.
Consider how you may bring up the matter in a friendly way that conveys how much you care rather than how you can persuade someone to wear a hearing aid.
Book a Consultation with Our Hearing Specialists
Bravo Hearing Centre provides a full combination of hearing devices, related products, and services, including expert counsel from our licensed hearing specialists.
Call us at 647-694-4626 to book a hearing test with our specialists or to discuss any questions or concerns you may have.
