Fatigue and Hearing Loss: Investigating the Connection

If you’re living with hearing loss, you understand firsthand the significant impact it can have on your daily life. Naturally, you strive to find the most effective ways to address and manage your hearing loss. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the causes of hearing loss and exploring potential solutions becomes crucial in this pursuit. It’s essential to be attentive to symptoms such as fatigue, as it can play a significant role in influencing your hearing abilities. By staying informed and proactive, you empower yourself to take the necessary steps towards improving your hearing health and overall well-being.

Here’s a closer look at the impact that fatigue has on your hearing and what you can do to minimize it.

What Causes Listening Fatigue

When someone has hearing loss they must use cognitive skills and resources to listen to what others are saying. This increase in cognitive resources that are targeted towards listening more attentively is called listening effort. When you are using extra cognitive resources for listening it causes you to have fewer resources to allocate to other tasks that you need to do.

Listening more intently can mean that you are slower to respond verbally. The burning out of cognitive resources is one of the major reasons why you may experience listening fatigue. Whenever you have hearing loss, your brain has to do more work to compensate for the loss of your hearing. This means that it is doing double the work to process the same information that it would for a person who has no hearing loss. This can cause your brain to feel stressed and fatigue is the ultimate result.

Visit an Audiologist

The main way to handle hearing fatigue is to have your hearing checked by a licensed audiologist. Your audiologist will determine the level of hearing fatigue that you currently have. They will do this by asking relevant questions about your lifestyle and also testing your hearing. You may be experiencing hearing fatigue simply because you do not have the right fit of hearing aid. You may need to upgrade the hearing aid that you currently have to help reduce listening fatigue.

If you find that you’re not getting the optimal benefits from your current hearing aid, it’s possible that it may be experiencing a malfunction. Addressing this issue with your audiologist crucial for maximizing your hearing aid’s effectiveness. With the right hearing aid tailored to your specific hearing loss, you can experience a significant reduction in listening fatigue. By choosing a hearing aid that suits your needs, you open the door to improved listening comfort and a more enjoyable hearing experience.

Get Rest

An easy way to address hearing fatigue is simply by getting some rest. Stay away from listening to videos on social media apps, turn off the radio and stop watching television for a day or two. Try reading and going outdoors instead. Make things as quiet as possible since this will help with your listening fatigue.

Use Hearing Aids

Hearing aids will not only reduce your hearing fatigue but your mental fatigue as well. The important thing is to make sure that they are the right fit for you. If while fitting your hearing aid you have questions and concerns, always talk to your audiologist about them, this will ensure that you’re are getting the most out of your hearing aids.

Reduce Environmental Triggers

Your hearing loss may be caused by being in a specific environment. Try to avoid these loud environments as much as you can. If you can’t avoid loud environments because you are working in one, the best course of action is to protect your hearing as much as possible. You can talk with your audiologist about the different types of hearing protection and which will be best for you in these loud environments.

Another step you might want to take is simply to stop listening to loud music. Turn down the volume on your devices to acceptable levels when you are watching videos. Often there is an indicator on your volume button that shows when you are most likely to damage your hearing because of the loud volumes you are listening to.

Contact an Audiologist

As you can see there is a lot you may want to consider when you are experiencing hearing fatigue. There are many solutions for hearing fatigue and hearing loss. If you are having any problems at all with your hearing do not hesitate to consult with an audiologist. They can help you to quickly assess your levels of hearing fatigue so that you can get it treated as soon as possible. Learn more about ChEARS Hearing Center and how we can help by calling us today at (619) 717-2601.