How Untreated Hearing Loss Affects Your Mental Health

Hearing loss, when left untreated, has been linked to several other health conditions that most people want to avoid. 

Without paying attention to your hearing loss challenges, you can put your body and brain at risk of harmful falls, balance disorders, cognitive decline, issues with your memory, anxiety and depression, and an increased risk of developing dementia (up to five times the risk, depending on the severity of your hearing loss). 

These risks, while scary and stressful, can be mitigated by treating your hearing challenge with professional hearing care. But how are your mental health and well-being connected to your hearing? 

Hearing Loss & Cognitive Load 

Have you ever tried to pay attention to a conversation in an especially crowded room, like in a restaurant? It’s hard to understand what the person in front of you is saying when there’s background chatter, music playing, kids yelling, wait staff running around… 

When you’re struggling to hear, your brain works harder to understand the sounds you want to listen to, which takes resources from your other mental processes, like memory and thinking skills. As a result, you might feel pretty exhausted by the end of the night—more exhausted than usual.  

Your brain, in its efforts to bridge the gap in what you can and cannot hear, worked especially hard to help you understand the conversation, so you suffer cognitive load. Cognitive load (or cognitive fatigue) is when your brain works especially hard to help focus on something, and it tires out as a result.  

This strain could not only lead to cognitive decline, or a decrease in the skills associated with your memory and thinking, but also to social isolation and anxiety regarding social events. 

Hearing Loss & Social Isolation 

Not being able to hear well can start to affect your social skills; when you can’t hear your friends and loved ones, you feel left out of the conversation, so you withdraw from social events and start to avoid them entirely. 

Conversations are harder when you can’t hear properly, and many individuals become impatient and embarrassed to constantly ask for repetition. By avoiding social events altogether, you avoid risking embarrassment, but you increase your risk of cognitive decline as a result. 

Humans are social creatures. By avoiding socializing due to not being able to hear your friends and loved ones, you continue to feel left out of conversations, and your mental health takes a hit along with your hearing health. 

Concerned About Your Hearing or Mental Health? 

The Cayman Islands has many mental health facilities; if you’re concerned that your mental health could use some professional help, please check out this list of facilities on the islands that could assist.