Bliss 2 Hear: Manage without Hearing Aids?

Manage without Hearing Aids?

Many, many times people have told me that they don't need hearing aids because they 'manage' without. I 'managed' for many years too.

I tried to ensure:

I was facing the person/people with whom I was talking
I got a seat in the front row at meetings
I had my 'better' ear nearest the source of the speech
it was not obvious that I was cupping my hand behind my ear

I was oblivious to the fact that there were changes happening in my brain to enable me to understand speech whilst I thought my ears were 'managing'.

I did not appreciate that my brain had to work harder to compensate for the fact that my ears were not working at optimum efficiency. (So that is why I was always so tired in the evenings!)

To understand why the brain has to work harder if you have even 'just mild' hearing loss see featured post Making Sense of Speech.

https://bliss2hear.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/making-sense-of-speech.html

I had no idea that as long ago as 1989 it was suspected that there was a link between hearing loss and dementia.

Think about it.

How can you store memories of what you haven't heard properly?
How can you recall a memory your brain hasn't stored in the first place?

Department of Health & NHS England Action Plan on Hearing Loss (23rd March 2015) states that Objective 2 (Page 20) is to “ensure that all people with hearing loss are diagnosed early …… and that they are managed effectively once diagnosed.”

Page 22 5.10 states, “Hearing is a major factor in maintaining independence and achieving healthy ageing.”
Page 10 3.14 states, "There is an association between hearing loss, poor mental health outcomes and dementia in particular (8,10). People with hearing loss often experience isolation and depression with an increased risk of a major depression or a more serious moderate to severe depression."
Page 10 3.15 states, "Hearing loss is associated with an increased risk of developing dementia in over 60 year olds. People with mild hearing loss have nearly twice the risk of developing dementia compared to people with normal hearing; and the risk increases threefold for people with moderate and fivefold for people with severe hearing loss (9,10). Hearing loss has recently been independently associated with accelerated cognitive decline and incident cognitive impairment" (7,10).