As it turns out, there are more reasons than ever to make sure that you are doing everything in your power to save your hearing abilities. A new research project has revealed that people who have hearing loss are much more likely to suffer from depression than their normal hearing counterparts. In this article we will look at the study completed by the Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, ways to prevent hearing loss, and how hearing loss can inflict depression on people.
How To Prevent Hearing Loss
Many people are actively harming their hearing loss without even knowing that they are doing it. By listening to your earphones too loudly, going to concerts, and cleaning your own ears, you are putting your future hearing health at risk. In order to prevent hearing loss, you should do more to avoid loud noises whenever it is possible. Also, if you live or work in an environment where loud noises are very common, then you should wear some form of hearing protection to make sure that you are not suffering needlessly. These are two simple ways to prevent yourself from suffering hearing impairment.
How Does Depression Result From Hearing Loss?
To many people, the link between hearing loss and depression seems rather farfetched. After all, they are two different parts of the body with little connection. However, hearing impairment and loss can cause depression by preventing people from taking part in the exercises and conversations that have punctuated their lives up to that point. If you can no longer have meaningful conversations or listen to music well, you will become withdrawn, sad, and then depressed.
Another possible way that hearing loss can inflict depression is through brain damage, but this has yet to be proven scientifically.
The Study
The test was completed by people at the Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. They took a sample size of 18,000 people from the United States, and asked them to have their hearing tested and then recorded. All of the participants were willing and between the ages of 18 and 80 years old at the time of the study. As soon as they had their hearing test complete, they were asked to fill out a paper that is able to reveal depression in human beings.
The results of the study were confounded by the fact that people over the age of 70 did not conform to the findings of the rest of the study. The rest of the study found that people had very high rates of hearing loss throughout the United States, and that in those people, eleven percent of them suffered from depression. More studies are going to follow this up, but for the time being, a definitive link has been established.