There are many great reasons to treat your hearing loss. One of the best reasons is that doing so can help improve your mood and help minimize feelings of loneliness and depression.
Untreated Hearing Loss Affects Your Ability to Connect With Others 
It makes sense that hearing loss can affect your mood. Speech is one of the first things that becomes harder to understand when you have hearing loss. Not only might you struggle to understand daily interactions, like chatting with the barista while picking up your morning coffee, but it also makes it difficult to interact with your friends and loved ones.
Activities like attending your granddaughter’s birthday party or going out to enjoy a nice dinner with friends at La Fia Bistro can go from fun and fulfilling to stressful and isolating because you feel as though you aren’t a part of the conversation.
Research has shown that hearing loss can significantly increase the odds of feeling socially and emotionally lonely.
Hearing Loss Can Increase Feelings of Anxiety and Depression
These feelings of loneliness and isolation can lead to an increase in anxiety and depression in people with untreated hearing loss. However, hearing loss can also affect your mental health in other ways.
You have to work harder to try and process speech and other sounds when you have hearing loss, which means you put in way more effort trying to listen than those with normal hearing. This extra mental effort can cause your brain to work less efficiently and possibly even lead to a change in brain function that may worsen your mental health.
You may also start to find yourself feeling anxious about various aspects of your hearing loss. Perhaps you begin to stress about having a costly misunderstanding at work or worry about not hearing your alarm in the morning.
These worries, coupled with the strain on your social relationships, can have a serious negative effect on your overall mood and mental health.
How To Seek Treatment for Your Hearing Loss
If you’ve noticed signs of hearing loss or have felt a greater sense of depression, anxiety or isolation as a result of your hearing troubles, schedule an appointment for a hearing test. Treating your hearing loss with hearing aids or other assistive listening devices can make it easier to stay connected with others and feel confident in your ability to participate in social situations.
To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call the experts at Wilmington Audiology Services today.