So you have a little hearing loss that you have been aware of for a couple of years and you are wondering how long you can go without correcting it. The sooner the better. Not only will correcting your hearing loss provide you with a more vibrant life, but it also improves your families life as well.

New research shows that hearing loss in young people affects their brain. Just a slight hearing loss is altering brain function. It is alarming in the fact that the brain changes are usually not detected until people are much older. A study that was done by the research group of Yune Lee studied and monitored a group of young adults from ages 18 – 41. Everyone’s hearing was tested before the study began. The brain was monitored for the different types of activity as they had to listen to increasingly complex sentences. The research group was trying to determine if the brain had to work measurably harder to understand complex messages.

Their results were unexpected and worrisome. What stood out in the study is that all of the participants that had a hearing loss, even just slight hearing loss, showed activities in the brain’s right frontal cortex. This is worrisome because usually the right frontal cortex of the brain is not used to process language until we are in our senior years…not in our youth.

Looking further, we know that hearing loss and the onset of dementia are related. If we are making the wrong part of our brain work too early then we may be contributing to dementia. Yune Lee states; “If you put all of your energy into hearing, you drain cognitive resources that could be used for
other things such as memory and attention”.

Why is this happening? It could be due to the use headphones and earbuds. Everyone definitely needs to limit the volume and the time spent having sound directly pumping into your ears at close proximity. Remember to wear your ear protection when running equipment or shooting guns! Protect your hearing at all stages of your life…you are going to need it later!! If you haven’t had a hearing evaluation this year…stop putting it off. Reach out and schedule your appointment today.
Phone: (863) 385-3497 Protect your brain. To Hear Better Is To Live Better!

By: Roseann B. Kiefer, B.A., BC-HIS