Fatigue can have a variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory problems like sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also be the cause of tiredness and that’s hearing loss.
That’s at least partly due to the fact that hearing loss usually develops gradually over time. You may find yourself continuously fatigued for no apparent reason because you failed to recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be really frustrating. In addition, this exhaustion can frequently result in irritability and, ultimately, social isolation. Luckily, your energy levels will usually increase once you get your hearing loss treated.
Hearing loss progresses gradually (and your brain compensates)
Hearing loss is normally a gradually progressing condition that gets worse over time. You might not even realize that you have a hearing loss at first. If you’re not specifically watching for them, even conspicuous symptoms, like cranking the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to miss.
Exhaustion is one of the most obvious symptoms of hearing loss. You may feel tired no matter how much sleep you got the night before. Unfortunately, many people don’t intuitively connect this symptom with hearing loss.
That’s because the cause happens in your brain. Your brain needs to work overtime to process sound because of the loss of your ability to hear, which can leave you fatigued. In the same way as prolonged periods of intense concentration can leave you fatigued, the extra brain power needed to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Your ability to complete daily tasks and your general quality of life can be considerably impacted over time as your neglected hearing loss gets worse.
The role of stigma
So when people begin to feel tired, why wouldn’t they simply visit a hearing specialist? One partial reason is that individuals just don’t associate tiredness with hearing loss. But there’s another reason that may ultimately be more detrimental: stigma. People often feel like others will think they’re old if they have hearing loss and that acknowledging it will ruin their lives. All of these things are untrue, and they stop many individuals from finding treatment.
However, as more people are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has begun to disappear. It’s becoming a more prevalent understanding that hearing loss can happen to individuals of all ages and modern hearing aids are small enough that the few people who can’t let go of this stigma won’t even see them.
Regrettably, this perception of social stigma can cause individuals in the early stages of hearing loss to avoid getting the treatment they need resulting in more severe permanent hearing loss.
How to manage hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest stages of hearing loss might not have any noticeable symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative approach instead of the far more challenging and less effective reactive approach. Hearing specialists recommend regular screenings in order to establish a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be able to identify changes to your hearing in later screenings. Early treatment will be much more effective once we have identified that baseline.
You can lessen hearing loss associated exhaustion by taking a few proactive measures. Here are a few of the most prevalent and simplest steps:
- See a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the status of your hearing is essential. Seeing a hearing specialist can help you detect hearing loss in its early stages when it’s less of an issue and your brain doesn’t have to work as hard to compensate.
- Give yourself a rest in between conversations: Give yourself some quiet time to rest and refresh in between conversations. This can help your brain recover from all the work it’s doing and make everyday communication a little more sustainable.
- Be certain you use your hearing aids as often as you can: One of the chief functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations a lot easier. This means you won’t be as tired because your brain won’t have to work so hard.
- Try to find more quiet, isolated places for conversations: Distinguishing voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re using hearing aids or not). Moving conversations to a location with less background noise can make it easier for your brain to focus on the voice you’re attempting to hear, reducing fatigue in the process.
So if you’re experiencing an unusual amount of fatigue and tiredness, with no apparent cause, it might be time to schedule a visit to your hearing specialist. Treating hearing loss can help you reduce your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be neglected.