Kids have a tendency to fall pretty much every day. Taking a spill on your bicycle? Not unusual. Stumbling over your own feet when you’re running outside? Happens all of the time. Kids are very limber so, no big deal. They rebound pretty easily.
As you get older though, that becomes less and less true. Falling becomes much more of a concern as you grow older. One reason for this is that bones break easier and heal slower when you’re older. Older people may have a harder time getting up after falling, so they spend more time in pain on the floor. Falling is the leading injury-associated cause of death as a result.
It’s not surprising, then, that healthcare professionals are always on the hunt for tools and devices that can reduce falls. Hearing aids might be just such a device according to research.
Can hearing loss bring about falls?
In order to understand why hearing aids can help avert falls, it helps to ask a related question: does hearing loss make a fall more likely in the first place? It looks as if the answer might be, yes.
So the question is, why would the risk of falling be raised by hearing loss?
That link isn’t exactly intuitive. After all, hearing loss doesn’t directly influence your ability to move or see. But this sort of direct impact on your mobility, and an elevated danger of falling, can be a consequence of some hearing loss symptoms. Some of those symptoms include:
- Exhaustion: When you have neglected hearing loss, your ears are always straining, and your brain is often working extra hard. Your brain will be continuously tired as a consequence. A weary brain is less likely to notice that obstacle in your path, and, as a consequence, you may wind up tripping and falling over something that an attentive brain would have detected.
- You’re unable to hear high-frequency sounds: You know how when you walk into a concert hall, you immediately know that you’re in a spacious venue, even if you close your eyes? Or when you jump into a car and you instantly know you’re in a small space? That’s because your ears are utilizing high-pitched sounds to help you “echolocate,” basically. When you’re unable to hear high-frequency sounds because of hearing loss, you can’t make those assessments quite as quickly or intuitively. This can bring about disorientation and loss of situational awareness.
- Depression: Social solitude and possibly even mental decline can be the result of neglected hearing loss. When you’re socially isolated, you might be more likely to stay at home, where tripping hazards abound, and be less likely to have help nearby.
- Loss of balance: How is your balance impacted by hearing loss? Well, your inner ear is very significant to your overall equilibrium. So when hearing loss affects your inner ear, you may find yourself a bit more likely to get dizzy, experience vertigo, or have difficulty maintaining your balance. Because of this, you could fall down more often.
- Your situational awareness is impaired: When you have untreated hearing loss, you may not be as able to hear that oncoming vehicle, or the dog barking next to you, or the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps. Your situational awareness could be substantially impacted, in other words. Can you become clumsy like this because of hearing loss? Well, kind of, loss of situational awareness can make everyday tasks a little more hazardous. And your risk of bumping into something and having a fall will be a little higher.
Age is also a consideration when it comes to hearing loss-induced falls. As you grow older, you’re more likely to develop permanent and advancing hearing loss. At the same time, you’re more likely to take a tumble. And when you’re older, falling can have much more severe consequences.
How can the danger of falling be lowered by wearing hearing aids?
If hearing loss is part of the issue, it makes sense that hearing aids should be part of the remedy. And new research has confirmed that. One recent study revealed that wearing hearing aids could cut your risk of a fall in half.
The connection between staying on your feet and hearing loss wasn’t always this evident. That’s to some extent because people often fail to use their hearing aids. As a result, falls among “hearing aid users” were frequently inconclusive. This was because people weren’t wearing their hearing aids, not because their hearing aids were malfunctioning.
But this new study took a different (and maybe more accurate) strategy. People who used their hearing aids often were classified into a different group than people who used them occasionally.
So why does using your hearing aids help you avoid falls? Generally speaking, they keep you more vigilant, more focused, and less tired. The added situational awareness also helped. In addition, many hearing aids come with safety features designed to activate in the case of a fall. Help will come quicker this way.
Consistently using your hearing aids is the key here.
Invest in your fall prevention devices today
Hearing aids can help you catch up with your friends, enjoy quality time with your loved ones, and remain connected to everybody who’s significant in your life.
They can also help prevent a fall!
If you want to learn more about how hearing aids could help you, schedule an appointment with us today.
