By Anita Giles MS, CCC-A Audiologist,
Physicians Hearing Center
(New Year’s resolution: a promise to yourself or decision to do something, especially to improve one’s behavior or lifestyle in some way, during the year ahead.)
The Babylonians are credited with starting the tradition of New Year resolutions over 4000 years ago. In circa 46 B.C., Julius Caesar developed the solar based Julian calendar which established January 1 as the beginning of a new year. January was named after Janus (guardian of gates and doors), a two-faced Roman god whose spirit inhabited doorways and arches in Rome. With his two faces, Janus looked backwards into the previous year for reflection and forward into the future to new beginnings. The Romans adopted the tradition of resolutions and offered sacrifices to Janus with promises of good conduct for the coming New Year.
2024 has arrived. Take a moment to reflect on 2023. Did you live well or was there an opportunity for improvement? Was your life enriched by interaction with and reaction to many sounds, sights, tastes, smells, and touch or was something missing? Reflect on these questions:
• Did you attend fewer social events because of difficulty understanding what is said or are embarrassed/frustrated because you can’t be part of the conversation?
• Did you stop doing things that you enjoy —concerts, plays, listening to music, playing cards and table games, bird watching, eating at restaurants, attending church or activities with multiple talkers…because you can’t hear well to enjoy it?
• Did you stop watching television or listening to the radio, especially with others because the volume was too loud for those around you?
If these statements describe you, you may be experiencing Hearing Loss (HL). Hearing happens when the brain takes the sound gathered by the nerves in the ear and makes it meaningful to us. Hearing is vital for human activities, learning, information exchange, and connection with others. Over time our ears pick up fewer sounds and less sound detail, which disrupts the normal relationship between our ears and brain forcing it to guess at what is being said. When the brain receives less information and is unable to give us a complete hearing experience, it is called “hearing loss”. Trouble following or missing parts of the conversation, feeling like others are mumbling, needing to increase the volume on the TV, and avoiding or losing interest in social gatherings are all symptoms of hearing loss.
Hearing loss has been linked to feelings of depression, anxiety, frustration, social isolation, fatigue, falls, and increased risk of dementia. When the brain is deprived of sound (auditory deprivation), it loses the ability to understand and process information due to lack of stimulation. Your brain will “hear” words but struggle to understand them. The brain will atrophy (shrink) in the area assigned to interpret sound. HL impacts not only you but everyone that you interact with. Experiencing hearing loss tends to shrink your world and you begin to isolate yourself from others. Your behavior and emotions change, making it uncomfortable for your family and friends. Helen Keller said: “Blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people.”
Looking forward to the year ahead, the good news is that you are not alone as over 27 million Americans suffer from hearing loss. Audiologists, professionals that specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of hearing disorders, can help identify the problem and discuss treatment options. Hearing loss can be managed with help from hearing aids, cochlear implants, and assistive listening devices that reconnect you with friends and family. The best news is that hearing loss doesn’t have to prevent you from living life well. As you look forward to 2024, keep the promise to yourself to achieve healthy hearing, starting with a hearing evaluation.
“I am just as deaf as I am blind. The problems of deafness are deeper and more complex, if not more important than those of blindness. Deafness is a much worse misfortune. For it means the loss of the most vital stimulus- the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir, and keeps us in the intellectual company of man.”
–Helen Keller
Resources:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: Hearing and Balance
American Academy of Audiology
HealthyHearing.com: Understanding auditory deprivation: Why untreated hearing loss is bad for your brain
National Library of Medicine: Epidemiology of otitis media during the first seven years of life in children in greater Boston: a prospective, cohort study
South Huntsville Neighbors 