Do you have a hard time balancing in a dark room or find yourself stumbling when trying to work out at Hylo Fitness? Do you also have hearing loss? If so, these conditions may be linked. Fortunately, seeking treatment and wearing hearing aids may improve both your hearing and your balance.
The Link Between Hearing Loss & Balance Problems
In 2012, Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging published a study on the link between hearing loss and risk of falling. Researchers worked with 2,017 participants ages 40 to 69 who were part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. These participants had their hearing tested and answered questions about whether they had recently experienced a fall.
The researchers found that those with hearing loss at 25 decibels – what is considered to be a mild hearing loss – had triple the risk of falling. For every additional 10 decibels of hearing loss, this risk increased by 1.4-fold.
There are three major hypotheses for this connection:
- People with hearing loss have less overall awareness of their environment, making them more likely to trip and fall.
- Hearing loss reduces spatial awareness, meaning it is more difficult to orient your body to the objects around you.
- Those who have hearing loss have an increased cognitive load, meaning the brain is overwhelmed by straining to hear and there are fewer resources left to keep you upright.
How Hearing Aids Can Help
A study conducted by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis that was published in The Laryngoscope in 2015 examined how hearing aids affect the ability to balance. Researchers assessed the balance of 14 people with diagnosed hearing loss who were between the ages of 65 and 91.
They found that patients scored highest on balance tests when hearing aids were worn in both ears and turned on, in contrast to when they wore their hearing aids turned off. This study is the first to establish how sound information can be used to help you balance.
According to the researchers, “Wearing hearing aids may offer a significant public-health benefit for avoiding falls.”
For more information about the benefits of hearing aids or to schedule an appointment with a hearing and balance expert, call The Hearing & Balance Center today.