Resolve to Take Care of Your Brain

By W.L. “Hunter” Huntley, III, HAS., BC-HIS

Every year most people set New Year resolutions.  However, the majority of the population doesn’t think about maintaining healthy hearing.  Hearing loss is usually a very gradual progression, making it sometimes undetectable to the individual with the ailment.  Usually a family member or close friend will notice the symptoms before the person with the impairment.

Symptoms include: asking for statements or directions to be repeated, trouble hearing over the phone, turning the T.V. or radio up louder than normal, have trouble understanding conversations in a car, difficulty with conversations in restaurants, not understanding in church, straining to hear and understand normal speech, avoiding certain situations or events, must have others raise their voice or move closer to help being understood, hear some people better than others, notice that other people seem to mumble, concentrate so much to listen that you tire from it, hear people speaking but have difficulty understanding the words, have been told that you speak loudly, miss the telephone ringing, even not hearing the turn indicators in an automobile.

These are some of the most common issues when a persons’ hearing begins to decline.  These may also indicate the onset of other medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

All of these maladies can cause significant hearing impairment.

Once a decline in hearing is detected, it is crucial to address the issue before it advances into a serious handicap.

John’s Hopkins Medical University conducted  studies on individuals who had hearing impairment, but did not seek any type of assistance with hearing instruments.  The conclusions were astounding.  People with even a mild hearing loss were twice as likely to develop some form of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  Those with severe hearing impairment were five times as likely to contract the aforementioned maladies.  This occurs due to the auditory cortex of the brain (responsible for hearing and understanding speech) needs to be consistently stimulated “properly”, to avoid loss of function and atrophy.  We hear with our brain, not our ears!

A simple hearing evaluation will let you know if there are issues with your ability to hear and understand speech; and what options are available if necessary.

For a FREE hearing consultation and hearing examination: call (239) 997-8288.