Kids have a tendency to fall pretty much every day. Wiping out on your bike? That’s normal. Stumbling over your own feet while you’re running outside? Also fairly normal. It isn’t really a concern because, well, kids are kind of limber. They rebound very easily.
As you grow older though, that becomes less and less true. The older you get, the more concerning a fall can be. To some extent, that’s because your bones tend to break more easily (and heal more slowly). Older individuals tend to spend more time lying on the floor in pain because they have a harder time getting back up. Falling is the leading injury-associated cause of death as a result.
It isn’t surprising, then, that healthcare professionals are always on the lookout for tools and devices that can decrease falls. New research seems to suggest that we might have determined one such device: hearing aids.
Can falls be caused by hearing loss
If you want to know how hearing aids could potentially prevent a fall, you need to ask this relevant question: is it feasible that hearing loss can raise your risk of having a fall? It appears as though the answer may be, yes.
So the question is, why would the risk of falling be raised by hearing loss?
That association isn’t really that intuitive. Hearing loss doesn’t really, after all, affect your ability to move or see. But this type of direct impact on your mobility, and an increased risk of falling, can be a consequence of some hearing loss symptoms. Here are a few of those symptoms:
- Depression: Social solitude and maybe even mental decline can be the consequence of neglected hearing loss. When you’re socially separated, you may be more likely to spend time at home, where tripping hazards are everywhere, and be less likely to have help close at hand.
- Exhaustion: Your brain is working overtime and you’re always straining when you have neglected hearing loss. This means your brain is tired more often than not. A tired brain is less likely to detect that obstacle in your path, and, as a consequence, you may end up tripping and falling over something that an attentive brain would have seen.
- High-pitched sounds get lost: You know how when you go into a concert hall, you instantly detect that you’re in a spacious venue, even if you close your eyes? Or how you can instantly tell that you’re in a small space when you get into a car. Your ears are actually utilizing something like “echolocation” and high-frequency sound to help your spatial awareness. When you’re unable to hear high-frequency sounds because of hearing loss, you can’t make those assessments quite as quickly or easily. Loss of situational awareness and disorientation can be the outcome.
- You have less situational awareness: When you have neglected hearing loss, you might not be as able to hear that approaching vehicle, or the dog barking beside you, or the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps. In other words, your situational awareness may be substantially impacted. Can you become clumsy in this way as a result of hearing loss? Well, in a way yes, daily tasks can become more dangerous if your situational awareness is compromised. And that means you might be a little bit more likely to unintentionally stumble into something, and have a tumble.
- Loss of balance: How can hearing loss effect your balance? Well, your inner ear is extremely significant to your overall equilibrium. So you may find yourself dizzy, experience vertigo, and lose your balance when hearing loss affects your inner ear. Because of this, you may fall down more frequently.
Age is also a factor with regard to hearing loss-related falls. As you grow older, you’re more likely to develop irreversible and progressive hearing loss. That will increase the probability of falling. And when you’re older, falling can have much more severe repercussions.
How can hearing aids help minimize falls?
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.
The connection between staying on your feet and hearing loss wasn’t always this clear. Partly, that’s because not everybody uses their hearing aids all of the time. As a result, falls among “hearing aid users” were often inconclusive. This was because people weren’t using their hearing aids, not because their hearing aids were broken.
But this new research took a different (and maybe more accurate) strategy. People who wore their hearing aids now and again were separated from individuals who wore them all of the time.
So how can you prevent falls by wearing hearing aids? Generally speaking, they keep you more vigilant, more focused, and less exhausted. It also helps that you have increased situational awareness. Many hearing aids also include a feature that can alert the authorities and family members if a fall happens. Help will come quicker this way.
Consistently wearing your hearing aids is the trick here.
Invest in your fall prevention devices today
Hearing aids can help you catch up with your friends, enjoy quality time with your family members, and stay in touch with everyone who’s significant in your life.
They can also help you stay on your feet, literally!
If you want to find out more about how hearing aids could help you, make an appointment with us today.