Kids tend to fall pretty much every day. Wiping out on your bike? Not unusual. Getting tripped up when sprinting across the yard. Also fairly typical. It isn’t really a worry because, well, kids are quite limber. They don’t typically stay down for long.
The same cannot be said as you get older. The older you get, the more worrisome a fall can become. One reason for this is that bones break easier and heal slower when you’re older. Older people may have a harder time standing back up after falling, so they spend more time in pain on the floor. Consequently, falls are the number one injury-connected cause of death in individuals over 65.
It’s not surprising, then, that healthcare professionals are always on the hunt for tools and devices that can lessen falls. New research appears to suggest that we may have determined one such device: hearing aids.
Can falls be caused by hearing loss
If you want to understand how hearing aids could potentially prevent a fall, you need to ask this relevant question: is it feasible that hearing loss can increase your risk of having a fall? In some instances, it seems that the answer is a strong yes.
So you have to ask yourself, why would the danger of falling be raised by hearing loss?
That link isn’t exactly intuitive. Hearing loss doesn’t really, after all, impact your ability to see or move. But it turns out there are a few symptoms of hearing loss that do have this type of direct impact on your ability to get around, and these symptoms can result in a higher danger of falling. Here are some of those symptoms:
- Exhaustion: Your brain is working extra hard and you’re always straining when you have neglected hearing loss. Your brain will be continuously tired as a result. A tired brain is less likely to detect that obstacle in your path, and, as a result, you might end up tripping and falling over something that an alert brain would have noticed.
- Depression: Neglected hearing loss can cause social isolation and depression (and also an increased danger of dementia). 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.
- You can’t hear high-frequency sounds: You know how when you walk into a concert hall, you instantly know that you’re in a large venue, even if your eyes are closed? Or how you can immediately tell that you’re in a small space when you get into a car. Your ears are actually using something like “echolocation” and high-frequency sound to assist your spatial awareness. When you’re unable to hear high-pitch sounds because of hearing loss, you can’t make those judgments quite as rapidly or intuitively. Loss of situational awareness and disorientation can be the outcome.
- Loss of balance: How is your balance impacted by hearing loss? Well, your overall balance depends greatly on your inner ear. So you might find yourself dizzy, experience vertigo, and lose your balance when hearing loss affects the inner ear. Essentially, you have a tendency to fall more frequently.
- Your situational awareness is impaired: When you have neglected hearing loss, you may not be as able to hear that oncoming vehicle, or the barking dog beside you, or the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps. Your situational awareness might be significantly impacted, in other words. 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 jeopardized. And that means you may be a little bit more likely to unintentionally stumble into something, and take a fall.
Age is also a consideration when it comes to hearing loss-associated falls. As you grow older, you’re more likely to experience permanent and progressive hearing loss. At the same time, you’re more likely to have a fall. And when you’re older, falling can have much more severe consequences.
How can hearing aids help reduce falls?
It seems logical that hearing aids would be part of the solution when hearing loss is the problem. 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.
The relationship between staying on your feet and hearing loss wasn’t always this clear. That’s to some extent because individuals frequently fail to wear their hearing aids. So it was inconclusive how often hearing aid users were falling. This wasn’t because the hearing aids were malfunctioning, it was because individuals weren’t using them.
But this new study took a different (and perhaps more accurate) approach. People who wore their hearing aids frequently were classified into a different group than those who used them intermittently.
So how can you prevent falls by wearing hearing aids? They keep you less exhausted, more focused, and generally more alert. It also helps that you have increased spatial awareness. In addition, many hearing aids have safety features created to activate in the case of a fall. Help will arrive quicker this way.
Consistently wearing your hearing aids is the key here.
Prevent falls with new hearing aids
You will be able to stay close to your family members if you wear hearing aids, not to mention catch up with friends.
They can also help you stay on your feet, literally!
Make an appointment with us right away if you want to find out more about how your quality of life can be enhanced.