{"id":2648,"date":"2021-11-05T15:37:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T19:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/?p=2648"},"modified":"2021-11-05T15:37:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T19:37:49","slug":"how-hearing-loss-can-affect-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/how-hearing-loss-can-affect-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hearing Loss Can Affect Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hearing loss affects much more than just your ability to hear. Untreated<a href=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/hearing-balance\/hearing-loss\/hearing-loss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> hearing loss<\/a> can put you at a greater risk for different mental and physical health issues, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Anxiety<\/li><li>Depression<\/li><li>Cognitive decline and dementia<\/li><li>Injury from falls<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Hearing loss can also affect your memory. Studies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-021-88487-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">have shown<\/a> that hearing loss is associated with reduced memory capacity. People with untreated hearing loss must concentrate harder to recognize sounds than those with normal hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is it Memory Loss or Dementia? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/iStock-1253272878-1280x853.jpg\" alt=\"Older man looking pensively out the window.\" class=\"wp-image-2651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/iStock-1253272878-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/iStock-1253272878-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/iStock-1253272878-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/iStock-1253272878-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Since hearing loss is a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/hearing-balance\/hearing-loss\/hearing-loss-dementia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> risk factor for dementia<\/a>, you might wonder if problems with your memory are an early sign of something more serious. If you have any concerns, you should reach out to a medical professional. However, absent any other symptoms, your memory issues are more likely due to hearing loss impairing your ability to retain information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Hearing Loss Causes Problems with Memory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Hearing loss makes your brain work much, much harder to understand sound. This means you must put extra concentration into trying to hear what is going on, as opposed to those with normal hearing. Because you must work so hard just to decipher what is being said, you have less energy to put into actually remembering the information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is known as cognitive overload. Your brain is trying to process more information than it is capable of processing, which can be exhausting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Isolation, Anxiety and Depression<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The frustration and exhaustion caused by both having to struggle to follow and remember conversations can lead people with hearing loss to withdraw. They isolate themselves and avoid social situations that they once enjoyed like taking a new fitness class at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accgov.com\/2766\/Lay-Park\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lay Park Community Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isolation leads to less brain stimulation. When memory function is not being used as often, its capacity is further reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Untreated hearing loss also puts you at risk for developing depression and anxiety, which can change the way your brain operates and interfere with memory as well. All of this creates a vicious cycle where your hearing loss makes it harder to remember things, which makes you withdraw, and hurts your memory even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Identify and Treat Hearing-Related Memory Loss<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your memory loss is hearing-related the first thing to do is schedule a hearing test. The test can assess your severity of hearing loss and will inform your treatment options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you do have hearing loss, your hearing expert will likely recommend hearing aids. Hearing aids help your brain not have to work as hard to hear. This eases the cognitive burden and should improve your ability to both hear and retain sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information or to schedule an appointment with a hearing expert, call Georgia Hearing Center at ENT of Athens today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><ul class=\"related-posts\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/5-surprising-facts-about-your-ears-and-hearing\/\" class=\"related-post\">5 Surprising Facts About Your Ears and Hearing<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/how-does-sleep-affect-your-hearing\/\" class=\"related-post\">How Does Sleep Affect Your Hearing?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/how-do-we-understand-sound\/\" class=\"related-post\">How Do We Understand Sound?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hearing loss affects much more than just your ability to hear. Untreated hearing loss can put you at a greater risk for different mental and physical health issues, such as: Anxiety Depression Cognitive decline and dementia Injury from falls Hearing loss can also affect your memory. Studies have shown that hearing loss is associated with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Hearing loss can affect your memory. Studies have shown that hearing loss is associated with reduced memory capacity.","_seopress_robots_index":"","schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2648"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2655,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648\/revisions\/2655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entofathens.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}