Do You Know Hearing Loss Cause Falls

How hearing loss affects balance?

In addition, hearing loss can decrease spatial awareness, so being able to gauge where their body is in relation to objects around them gets trickier.

Finally, hearing loss causes the brain to use more resources for hearing and interpreting speech and sound, so fewer resources go toward gait or balance. These factors can all make patients with hearing loss more likely to lose their balance and fall.

Our responsibility

Unfortunately, hearing loss in the elderly—although common—often remains untreated. Even those with hearing aids might not wear them regularly. Anecdotally, many patients use them when going out, but not while at home or doing daily activities like making dinner or doing laundry.

As a supplier of hearing aid specialist, we Ears mate must clearly explain to our clients the importance of wearing their hearing aids throughout the entire day. By outlining the risks and benefits, we can educate our patients on how hearing affects balance.

We also need to continue trying to educate the public about the myriad benefits of hearing aids, even for mild hearing loss. The negative impacts of hearing loss are wide-reaching, including falls that can cause serious injury or death. Addressing hearing loss is a critical piece of reducing the risk of falls for seniors and helping them live independently, and longer.

Elderly and seniors with untreated hearing loss may face significantly higher health care costs compared to their typically hearing peers, according to a study in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Among 4,728 matched adults (mean age of 61 years at baseline), untreated hearing loss was associated with 46-percent higher total health care costs over a 10-year period compared with costs for those without hearing loss. Patients with untreated hearing loss also experienced more inpatient stays and were at greater risk for 30-day hospital readmission at 10 years.

“Knowing that untreated hearing loss dramatically drives up health care utilization and costs will hopefully be a call to action among health systems and insurers to find ways to better serve these patients,” says study lead Nicholas S. Reed, an instructor of audiology in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins.

Hearing Loss Treatment

If you have hearing problems, help is available. Treatment depends on the cause and severity of your hearing loss.

Options include:

Removing wax blockage.

Earwax blockage is a reversible cause of hearing loss. Your doctor may remove earwax using suction or a small tool with a loop on the end.

Surgical procedures.

Some types of hearing loss can be treated with surgery, including abnormalities of the eardrum or bones of hearing (ossicles). If you've had repeated infections with persistent fluid, your doctor may insert small tubes that help your ears drain.

Hearing aids.

If your hearing loss is due to damage to your inner ear, a hearing aid can be helpful. An audiologist can discuss with you the potential benefits of a hearing aid and fit you with a device. Some of the earmate hearing aids are more and more popular in market as well as best seller hearing aids on Amazon or dropshipping service on hearing aids store: www.emhearingaid.com, due to fit and features offered.

Cochlear implants.

If you have more severe hearing loss and gain limited benefit from conventional hearing aids, then a cochlear implant may be an option. Unlike a hearing aid that amplifies sound and directs it into your ear canal, a cochlear implant bypasses damaged or nonworking parts of your inner ear and directly stimulates the hearing nerve. An audiologist, along with a medical doctor who specializes in disorders of the ears, nose and throat (ENT), can discuss the risks and benefits.