Hearing loss is not something we have to live with for the rest of our lives. In fact, dealing with hearing loss can help you avoid serious health problems, maintain your confidence and productivity at work, and protect you from everyday risks.

“We have so many things that can help,” says Darius Kohan, M.D., director of otology/neuro-otology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “We have the technology that can almost guarantee correction of hearing loss.”

1. Stay Happy

If you can’t hear what people are saying, chances are you will start avoiding conversations. This will make you feel frustrated, angry, sad or all three. Without a hearing aid or other treatment, these feelings won’t stop. Hearing loss, if left untreated, often leads to people becoming isolated from family, friends, colleagues and everyone else.

“The more you put it off, the more likely it is to lead to depression,” Kohan says.

In a 2014 National Institutes of Health study, researchers found that hearing loss nearly doubled the risk of depression in adults. Wearing a hearing aid, other studies have found, improves quality of life.

“Wearing a hearing aid means you enjoy life, you want to be involved in everything and you want to communicate,” Kohan says. “We need to keep our minds sharp. We have to keep it engaged, keep it thinking, keep it practicing.”

2. Stay sharp.

How well you listen affects the brain’s ability to function at its peak, according to several recent studies. Although the relationship between hearing and brain health is not fully understood, studies show that hearing loss accelerates the time associated with brain shrinkage, increases the likelihood of cognitive decline and puts you at greater risk of dementia.

Hearing loss, according to one theory, burdens the brain with an excessive amount of “cognitive load”. In other words, when you are trying to both hear and understand what is being said, your brain suffers as a result of the increased effort it is making.

“It’s possible that taking impaired messages changes some of your brain functions,” says Neil DiSarno, chief of staff of audiology at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

DiSarno gives an example: At a party with loud music where you put a lot of effort into listening to what they’re saying, you find yourself unable to remember the name of someone you’ve just met. This may not be a memory problem. Your brain is simply too overworked with the present effort of hearing to remember that name.

Hearing aids and cochlear implants can reduce this cognitive load by sending your brain clear messages, and recent research shows that these interventions can also reverse cognitive decline.

3. Stay Safe

Sounds signal many things, including danger. A car horn honking, an audible or verbal warning, and other danger warnings can save your life and limb, but only if you listen to them.

“We need to be aware of what’s going on around us,” DiSarno says. Kohan agrees: “It’s a safety issue,” he says. “If you’re crossing a street and someone honks a horn that you don’t hear, you don’t know which way to turn, you don’t know what to do, you continue on your way without realizing you’re in danger.”

Those who hear very well but only from one ear are equally at risk, DiSarno says: “If you don’t have stereo hearing, you have difficulty distinguishing where sounds are coming from.”

Hearing loss also appears to triple the risk of falling, according to a 2012 study by Johns Hopkins researchers, which speculates that these falls may occur because people with hearing loss are less attuned to the sounds of their environment. The cognitive load mentioned earlier may also be to blame. If hearing loss forces the brain to work harder to understand sounds, there may not be enough reserve to pay attention to hazards such as a turned edge of a carpet or an uneven sidewalk.

4. Stay in the job market

Untreated hearing loss will cost you, about $30,000 in annual income (based on U.S. incomes), according to the Better Hearing Institute. Wearing hearing aids, however, can save you more money, if not all of it.

“Addressing hearing loss prolongs your ability to work,” Kohan says. “There’s amazing technology in hearing aids and I hope people use it.”

The technology is often very expensive, but balanced against the potential lost income. The most likely outcome is to save money if you get the right treatment.

The ability to work is more than income. It increases self-esteem and satisfaction, says DiSarno: “Your ability to function fully at work will affect how satisfied you are with your job and how satisfied others are with you.”

Source: http://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2016/hearing-loss-brain-health.html?intcmp=Outbrain&obref=obinsite