We all know people who get up at 5 a.m., go to the gym, work eight hours, have dinner with family or friends and then catch the late show before turning in at night; and they can repeat this for days on end without getting exhausted. For someone with hearing loss, their playing field is different – after a single day of work or a long meeting with multiple people and lots of conversation, they can feel exhausted. But not because they don’t have the same stamina but because of listening fatigue.
Hearing loss is more than difficulty understanding speech and hearing sound. It can also make you extremely tired; listening takes a lot of effort and energy. People with normal hearing don’t really think about the fact that listening can be fatiguing and frustrating. Your ears never stop working and as a result, they never stop listening so for someone with hearing loss, when 5 o’clock rolls around, instead of looking forward to going for a run, or walking the dog or meeting up with friends, they often feel tired, sleepy and physically and mentally exhausted.
In fact, a recent survey found that as many as one in five people suffering from hearing loss give up on the job market, and for those who do work, almost 15 percent are so fatigued by the end of the day they have no energy left for leisurely pursuits.
How Can Hearing Aids Help?
Hearing aids help reduce the amount of energy spent listening and communicating by making it easier to hear sounds and speech in a variety of environments. Because the hearing aid helps to restore the sounds that are missed with hearing loss, the brain uses less energy understanding it. Modern day hearing aids also come with features that help reduce listening fatigue by isolating and amplifying the sounds you want to hear and significantly reducing or removing the noises you don’t.
5 Tips to Help Reduce Listening Fatigue
Hearing aids can lessen listening fatigue but there are other things you can do to keep your energy levels up all day long. Here are 5 tips to help give your ears a break throughout your day.
- When you feel yourself becoming stressed or tired, take two minutes to close your eyes, take deep breaths and sit quietly.
- Limit or eliminate interruptions and background noises that can make hearing hard even with your hearing aids (ex. put your phone on silent, ask others to turn down their music or remove yourself from an area where there is a lot of conversation).
- Eat lunch outside and away from a busy cafeteria or lunchroom areas.
- Try reading instead of watching a lot of TV or online videos.
- Take a power nap to help boost your mental alertness, cognitive ability, creativity and energy levels.
Feel free to share other tips you may have to help someone with hearing loss power through their day!