Kids tend to fall pretty much every day. Taking a tumble on your bicycle? Not unusual. Getting tripped up when sprinting across the yard. Also rather normal. Kids are pretty limber so, no big deal. They bounce back pretty easily.
As you get older though, that becomes less and less true. The older you get, the more worrisome a fall can become. One reason for this is that bones are more brittle and heal slower when you’re older. Older individuals may have a harder time standing back up after falling, so they spend more time in pain lying on the floor. Falling is the leading injury-associated cause of death as a result.
That’s why tools and devices that can reduce falls are always being sought out by healthcare professionals. New research seems to suggest that we might have discovered one such device: hearing aids.
Can hearing loss bring about falls?
In order to determine why hearing aids can help avert falls, it helps to ask a relevant question: does hearing loss make you more likely to fall in the first place? In some situations, it seems that the answer is a strong affirmative.
So why does hearing loss increase the danger of a fall for people?
That association isn’t exactly intuitive. After all, hearing loss does not directly influence your ability to move or see. But it turns out there are a few symptoms of hearing loss that do have this kind of direct impact on your ability to move around, and these symptoms can result in an increased risk of having a fall. Here are a few of those symptoms:
- You have less situational awareness: You might not be capable of hearing the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps, the barking dog next door, or an approaching vehicle when you have neglected hearing loss. Your situational awareness might be significantly impacted, in other words. Can hearing loss make you clumsy in this way? Well, kind of, loss of situational awareness can make everyday activities slightly more hazardous. And your chance of bumping into something and having a fall will be a little higher.
- Loss of balance: How is your balance impacted by hearing loss? Well, your overall balance depends heavily on your inner ear. So when hearing loss impacts your inner ear, you might find yourself a bit more likely to get dizzy, experience vertigo, or have difficulty maintaining your balance. As a result of this, you may fall down more frequently.
- Depression: Social solitude and possibly even cognitive decline can be the outcome of untreated hearing loss. When you’re socially isolated, you might be more likely to spend time at home, where tripping hazards abound, and be less likely to have help nearby.
- You’re unable to hear high-frequency sounds: When you go into a stadium, you know how even if your eyes are closed, you can detect that you’re in a large space? Or how you can immediately detect that you’re in a small space when you get into a vehicle. That’s because your ears are using high-pitched sounds to help you “echolocate,” more or less. You will lose the ability to rapidly make those assessments when hearing loss causes you to lose those high-frequency tones. Loss of situational awareness and disorientation can be the consequences.
- Exhaustion: When you’re dealing with untreated hearing loss, your ears are always straining, and your brain is often working overtime. Your brain will be continuously exhausted as a consequence. An alert brain will identify and avoid obstacles, which will lessen the chance of having a fall.
Part of the connection between hearing loss and falling is also in your age. You’re more likely to experience progressing and permanent hearing loss. That will increase the probability of falling. And when you’re older, falling can have much more serious repercussions.
How can the risk of falling be decreased by using hearing aids?
It seems logical that hearing aids would be part of the solution when hearing loss is the issue. And this is being validated by new research. One recent study found that using hearing aids could cut your chance of a fall in half.
In the past, these figures (and the relationship between hearing aids and staying upright) were a bit fuzzier. That’s partially because individuals frequently fail to use their hearing aids. So it was inconclusive how often hearing aid users were having a fall. This was because individuals weren’t wearing their hearing aids, not because their hearing aids were malfunctioning.
The method of this research was conducted differently and maybe more precisely. People who used their hearing aids often were put in a different group than people who used them intermittently.
So why does wearing your hearing aids help you avoid falls? Generally speaking, they keep you more alert, more concentrated, and less fatigued. The added situational awareness doesn’t hurt either. Many hearing aids also include a feature that can alert the authorities and family members in case of a fall. This can mean you get help quicker (this is critical for individuals older than 65).
Regularly wearing your hearing aids is the key here.
Prevent falls with new hearing aids
Hearing aids can help you catch up with your friends, enjoy quality moments with your loved ones, and stay in touch with everybody who’s significant in your life.
They can also help prevent a fall!
If you want to know more about how hearing aids could help you, schedule an appointment with us right away.
