Kids tend to fall on a daily basis. Wiping out on your bicycle? Not unusual. Tripping over your own feet while you’re running outside? Happens every day. It isn’t really a worry because, well, kids are quite limber. They rebound quite easily.
The same can’t be said as you age. Falling becomes more and more of a worry as you grow older. In part, that’s because your bones tend to break more easily (and heal more slowly). Older individuals may have a more difficult time standing back up after a tumble, so they spend more time in pain lying on the floor. As a result, falls are the number one injury-related cause of death in individuals older than 65.
That’s why tools and devices that can minimize falls are always being sought after by healthcare professionals. Hearing aids might be just such a device according to research.
Can falls be caused by hearing loss
If you want to understand how hearing aids could possibly prevent a fall, you need to ask this related question: does hearing loss make a fall more likely in the first place? It appears as if the answer might be, yes.
So why does hearing loss raise the danger of a fall for people?
That link isn’t exactly intuitive. After all, hearing loss does not directly impact your ability to move or see. But this sort of direct impact on your mobility, and an increased danger of falling, can be a result of some hearing loss symptoms. Here are some of those symptoms:
- Depression: Untreated hearing loss can lead to social isolation and depression (and also an increased danger of dementia). When you’re socially isolated, you might be more likely to stay at home, where tripping dangers abound, and be less likely to have help nearby.
- Your situational awareness is impaired: You might not be capable of hearing the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps, the dog barking next door, or an oncoming vehicle when you have untreated hearing loss. Your situational awareness could be substantially impacted, in other words. Can hearing loss make you clumsy in this way? Well, in a way yes, daily tasks can become more dangerous if your situational awareness is jeopardized. And that means you could be a little bit more likely to accidentally bump into something, and take a tumble.
- You can’t hear high-frequency sounds: You know how when you go into a concert hall, you immediately detect 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 utilizing something similar to “echolocation” and high-frequency sound to help your spatial awareness. You will lose the ability to quickly make those assessments when hearing loss causes you to lose those high-pitched tones. This can bring about disorientation and loss of situational awareness.
- Exhaustion: When you’re dealing with untreated hearing loss, your ears are constantly straining, and your brain is often working overtime. Your brain will be continuously tired as a consequence. A weary brain is less likely to detect that obstacle in your path, and, as a result, you might wind up tripping and falling over something that an attentive brain would have noticed.
- Loss of balance: How is your balance affected by hearing loss? Well, your inner ear is extremely important to your overall equilibrium. So you may find yourself dizzy, experience vertigo, and lose your balance when hearing loss affects your inner ear. In other words, you have a tendency to fall more frequently.
Part of the connection between falling and hearing loss is also in your age. As you get older, you’re more likely to experience permanent and advancing hearing loss. That will raise the likelihood of falling. And when you’re older, falling can have much more serious consequences.
How can the risk of falling be lowered by using hearing aids?
It makes sense that hearing aids would be part of the remedy when hearing loss is the problem. And this is being validated by new research. Your risk of falling could be lowered by up to 50% based on one study.
In the past, these figures (and the relationship between hearing aids and staying upright) were a little bit fuzzier. In part, that’s because not everyone uses their hearing aids all of the time. As a consequence, falls among “hearing aid users” were often inconclusive. 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 maybe more accurate) approach. Individuals who used their hearing aids often were put in a different group than people who used them occasionally.
So how can you prevent falls by using hearing aids? They keep you less fatigued, more concentrated, and generally more vigilant. The added situational awareness doesn’t hurt either. In addition, many hearing aids come with safety features designed to activate in the case of a fall. This can mean you get assistance quicker (this is crucial for people 65 or older).
But the key here is to make sure you’re using your hearing aids frequently and consistently.
Prevent falls with new hearing aids
Hearing aids can help you catch up with your friends, enjoy quality moments with your family members, and remain connected to everybody who’s important in your life.
They can also help you stay on your feet, literally!
If you want to know more about how hearing aids could help you, schedule an appointment with us today.
