It’s no secret that 2020 was a difficult year for many people. You may be bidding 2020 not only good-bye but good riddance! So, with hopes for a better year in 2021, you may have set some New Year’s resolutions—or maybe you simply defined a few priorities in your life to focus on this year. Is your health one of them?
Your health might seem like an obvious priority (especially during a pandemic!). But while you resolve to take steps to protect yourself from COVID-19, get a regular annual checkup, eat healthier, or maintain a healthy weight, you shouldn’t neglect your hearing health.
Be honest: When was the last time you had your hearing checked? A Consumer Reports survey of more than 120,000 people found that nearly 30 percent of those surveyed had either gone more than a decade without having their hearing tested or had never had it tested. How often should you have your hearing tested? That depends on your age. Experts recommend that until the age of 50, you have your hearing checked once a decade. After the age of 50, you should have your hearing tested once every three years.
Your hearing health is too important to neglect (especially when hearing tests are painless and usually only take about 30 minutes!). Being proactive about your hearing health can pay off in big ways, both now and in the future. Good hearing health can:
- Improve your relationships with your spouse, family members, and friends as you are able to better hear and understand them
- Keep you safe as you will be able to hear fire alarms, sirens, safety warnings, and hazards like oncoming traffic
- Enable you to hear the sounds you love, such as music and nature sounds
- Give you increased confidence to interact with others and attend social events, even in noisy atmospheres
- Remove the uncertainty of wondering whether you have hearing loss and how it can be treated
Hearing evaluations are excellent resources. While the tests are quick and painless, they can provide immeasurable value. Your hearing healthcare provider will administer the test and then review the results with you. If you have hearing loss, they will also discuss options with you for treating your hearing loss, such as hearing aids. This ensures that you receive the care and solutions you need. In some cases, hearing loss is a symptom of another health condition that can then be diagnosed and treated, such as infection, impacted earwax, kidney disease, heart disease, or diabetes.
In addition to restoring your ability to hear and understand your loved ones, diagnosing and treating hearing loss can also have a tremendous impact on your overall health. Untreated hearing loss has been linked to a greater risk for depression, anxiety, dementia, social isolation, and falls. You can reduce your risk for all of these serious conditions by simply having your hearing tested and treating any hearing loss.
To learn more about the importance of being proactive about hearing loss, we invite you to contact our hearing health professional today.
