Slipping Into Silence
Maintaining your health and warding off diseases as you get older, has become a top priority among individuals. Unfortunately, there are number of illnesses that cannot be prevented but can be treated – one of them being hearing loss. Although the loss of your hearing doesn’t necessarily occur as you get older and can be found across the age spectrum, it is a widely under treated disease.
Despite the improved hearing aid and implant technology, many people still suffer in silence, becoming depressed, anxious and very antisocial. They battle to stay connected to the world around them and are reluctant to seek medical help. According to a study performed by the National Institute for Aging on 2,304 people suffering from hearing loss, 50% of the participants who did not treat their hearing disability became depressed or sad, as opposed to their peers who were more social and integrated in society.
The feelings of depression, anxiety, anger, frustration and loneliness need occur if people with defective hearing would make use of the latest hearing aid technology. This would enable them to take control of their lives, improve their cognitive functioning and retain emotional stability. Researchers have found that years of sensory loss and social isolation, may result in these hard of hearing individuals being more susceptible to dementia and other cognitive disorders.
A relatively new technology called the hearing loop is becoming more popular to help hearing impaired individuals manage not only in their homes, but in public areas as well. The technology uses an inductive loop that transmits sound signals to a device called a telecoil, which is attached to a cochlear implant or an in-ear hearing aid. In effect, it acts like a wi-fi for hearing aids. Hearing loops are being installed in public places throughout the United States, including auditoriums, airports, taxis and home TV rooms. They work particularly well in public areas where there is background noise or echoing sounds, such as train stations or places of worship. Making public places more hearing-friendly, will give hearing impaired people more confidence to go out and live normal lives, being more active and socially adept.