If you are a person that is suffering from hearing loss, then you may want to pay more attention to what is going on with your hearing. You may be aware that hearing loss rarely limits itself to dulling your abilities to pick up sound, but now there is evidence that suggests that hearing loss can cause depression. With this information in mind, we will examine the study that led to this correlation being established as well as how to prevent hearing loss and the ways that you can go about treating hearing loss and depression together.
Prevention Is Key
For anyone who suffers from hearing loss, it is important to remember that a vast majority of hearing loss is preventable. You can lessen your risk of not being able to hear well into your old age by making sure that you are not exposed to as many loud noises throughout your life. That is not to say that you cannot go out and have fun in loud places, just that you need to be smarter about what sounds and the frequency at which you take them. If you know that you are going to be in a loud area it is wise to carry hearing protection with you.
Treatment Plans
It is difficult to treat this ailment since it has aspects of hearing loss as well as aspects of depression involved with it. That being said, it is important for people with hearing loss to explore the options to improve their hearing as soon as possible. You can have surgery to repair some issues with your ears, but a reliable option for hearing improvement is hearing aids. These devices can allow you to enjoy various things in your life like music and conversations again, helping to save you from depression.
The Case Study
The researchers from the Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders were able to collect a great deal of valuable data during their research project that used 18,000 different individuals. They found that people 70 and over had a high chance of suffering from hearing loss, but not so much in terms of overall depression. This did not hold true for people younger than them, who actually suffered from hearing loss and depression at much high rates than their older counterparts.
The test that was completed was rather simple to many people in the sense that it started with all of the hearing levels of participants being taken. When this was done, the individuals were given a series of questions that can determine if a person is depressed or not. Overall, this study sparked a lot of interest in the topic, meaning we will learn more as time goes on.