Kids tend to fall on a daily basis. Taking a spill on your bicycle? Not unusual. Tripping over your own feet while you’re running outside? Happens every day. Kids are quite limber so, no big deal. They rebound quite easily.
The same can’t be said as you get older. The older you get, the more concerning a fall can be. One reason for this is that bones break easier and heal slower when you’re older. Older people might have a more difficult time standing back up after a fall, so they spend more time in pain lying on the floor. Consequently, falls are the number one injury-connected cause of death in individuals over 65.
It isn’t surprising, then, that healthcare professionals are always on the lookout for tools and devices that can decrease falls. New research appears to suggest that we may have discovered one such device: hearing aids.
Can falls be caused by hearing loss
If you want to fully grasp how hearing aids could potentially prevent a fall, you need to ask this relevant question: does hearing loss make you more likely to fall in the first place? In some cases, it seems that the answer is a definite affirmative.
So why does hearing loss raise the danger of a fall for people?
That association isn’t exactly intuitive. Hearing loss doesn’t really, after all, impact your ability to move or see. But this sort of direct impact on your mobility, and an increased danger of falling, can be a consequence of some hearing loss symptoms. Some of those symptoms include:
- High-pitched sounds get lost: You know how when you go into a concert hall, you instantly detect that you’re in a huge venue, even if your eyes are closed? Or when you jump into a car and you immediately know you’re in close quarters? That’s because your ears are utilizing high-pitched sounds to help you “echolocate,” basically. When you’re unable to hear high-frequency sounds due to hearing loss, you can’t make those judgments quite as quickly or easily. This can result in disorientation and loss of situational awareness.
- Loss of balance: How does hearing loss impact your balance? Well, your overall balance depends greatly on your inner ear. So when hearing loss impacts your inner ear, you may find yourself a little more likely to grow dizzy, experience vertigo, or have trouble maintaining your balance. Because of this, you may fall down more frequently.
- Depression: Social solitude and maybe even cognitive decline can be the consequence of untreated hearing loss. You are likely to be at home a lot more when you’re socially isolated, and tripping hazards will be all around without anyone to help you.
- Your situational awareness is impaired: When you have untreated hearing loss, you may not be as able to hear that oncoming vehicle, or the barking dog next to you, or the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps. In other words, your situational awareness might be substantially affected. Can hearing loss make you clumsy in this way? Well, in a way yes, everyday tasks can become more dangerous if your situational awareness is compromised. And that means you could be a little bit more likely to accidentally bump into something, and have a tumble.
- Exhaustion: When you have neglected hearing loss, your ears are continuously straining, and your brain is often working overtime. Your brain will be continuously tired as a consequence. A tired brain is less likely to see that obstacle in your path, and, as a consequence, you might end up tripping and falling over something that an alert brain would have noticed.
Part of the connection between falling and hearing loss is also in your age. You’re more likely to develop progressing and irreversible hearing loss. That will increase the likelihood of falling. And when you’re older, falling can have much more severe consequences.
How can hearing aids help reduce falls?
It makes sense that hearing aids would be part of the remedy when hearing loss is the issue. And this is being confirmed by new research. One recent study found that wearing hearing aids could cut your chance of a fall in half.
In the past, these numbers (and the relationship between hearing aids and staying on your feet) were a little bit fuzzier. That’s partly because individuals frequently fail to use their hearing aids. So it was inconclusive how frequently hearing aid users were having a fall. This was because individuals weren’t wearing their hearing aids, not because their hearing aids were malfunctioning.
The method of this study was carried out differently and maybe more precisely. People who used their hearing aids frequently were put in a different group than people who used them occasionally.
So why does wearing your hearing aids help you prevent falls? They keep you less fatigued, more focused, and generally more vigilant. The added situational awareness also helped. Many hearing aids also include a feature that can alert the authorities and family members if a fall happens. Help will come faster this way.
Consistently using your hearing aids is the trick here.
Prevent falls with new hearing aids
Hearing aids can help you catch up with your friends, enjoy quality time with your family members, and stay in touch with everybody who’s important in your life.
They can also help prevent a fall!
Make an appointment with us today if you want to learn more about how your quality of life can be improved.