Among the roughly 40 million adults in the U.S. who have hearing loss, most don’t use hearing aids. This means they may be missing out on more than just good hearing.
Research shows hearing loss, if left untreated, can increase the risk of frailty, falls, social isolation, depression and cognitive decline. One study from scientists at Johns Hopkins University found that even people with mild hearing loss doubled their risk of dementia.
Now a new study finds that restoring hearing loss with hearing aids may lengthen people’s lives.
Dr. Janet Choi, an otolaryngologist with Keck Medicine of USC, wanted to evaluate whether restoring hearing with hearing aids may increase the chances of living longer.
Using data from the the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a large, national study, Choi and her colleagues tracked the status of nearly 1,900 adults who had been shown to have hearing loss during screenings. The participants completed questionnaires about their use of hearing aids.
“The group of patients who were using hearing aids regularly had a 24% lower risk of mortality compared to the group who never use hearing aids,” Choi says. Meaning, the participants who were in the habit of wearing hearing aids were significantly less likely to die early.
The researchers had hypothesized this would be the case given all the studies pointing to the negative impacts of untreated hearing loss. But Choi says they did not expect such a big difference in mortality risk. “We were surprised,” she says.
Prior research has shown that age-related hearing loss – if untreated – can take its toll on physical and mental health. And a recent study found restoring hearing with hearing aids may slow cognitive decline among people at high risk.
This new study, which was published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity Wednesday, adds to the evidence of benefit. The findings do not prove that it’s the hearing aids that lead to longer life. It could be that people who regularly use hearing aids are also more likely to stave off isolation, remain more active or have reduced risk of falls, which could explain the increased longevity. The effect held up even when the researchers accounted for differences such as age, ethnicity, education and medical history.
Given the benefits, Choi says it’s stunning how few people with hearing loss wear hearing aids regularly – just 12%, according to her study.
And Choi says another striking finding is that, the people in the study who had hearing aids, but didn’t use them regularly, were as likely to die prematurely as those who never used them.
Choi recommends new users wear their hearing aids every day for 30 consecutive days to get used to them.
“Hearing loss is an invisible problem, and it happens gradually, so it takes time for you to get used to hearing aids and then get the benefit,” she says.
Choi knows from personal experience the difference hearing aids can make. She was born with hearing loss in one ear. And for years she says she resisted the idea of wearing hearing aids, given that her hearing was very good in one ear. But when she became a surgeon she realized she was missing out.
“In the operating room during surgery, sometimes if someone talked to me on the left side when there was a lot of background noise, I usually wouldn’t respond,” she says. “People thought that I was just ignoring them, which was actually not true. I just didn’t hear them.”
Now she uses hearing aids regularly. “There were a lot of sounds I was missing,” she says. Now, her hearing has greatly improved. “I’m very happy I got hearing aids,” she says.
There can be several barriers to restoring hearing, including the cost of evaluation and the cost of hearing aids. But the technologies have improved and there are more affordable options compared to several years ago. Still, some people avoid wearing them due to stigma or the annoyance of getting used to them.
So, if you have hearing aids sitting in the back of a drawer, not being used, Choi says, try them again.
This story was edited by Jane Greenhalgh
Transcript:
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
About 40 million adults in the U.S. have trouble hearing, including me, but most of them do not use hearing aids. This means they’re missing out on more than just good hearing. They may also be putting themselves at heightened risk of everything from depression to dementia. NPR’s Allison Aubrey reports on surprising new research that finds wearing hearing aids may even boost longevity.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Dr. Janet Choi was born with hearing loss. But for years, she resisted wearing hearing aids because her hearing was very good in one ear. Then, when she became a surgeon, she realized she was missing out.
JANET CHOI: In the operating room during surgery sometimes, if someone talks to me on the left side when there are a lot of background noise, I usually wouldn’t respond ’cause I didn’t hear it. And people thought that I was just ignoring them, which was actually not true. I just didn’t hear them.
AUBREY: Choi was well aware of the risks associated with hearing loss, and she knew the evidence was piling up.
CHOI: Social isolation, depression, also decreased physical activity, and now there have been a lot of studies talking about dementia.
AUBREY: With so much at stake, Choi has become a regular user of her hearing aids, and she’s also at the forefront of new research. On the heels of a study showing that the use of hearing aids may help stave off cognitive decline, she and her collaborators wanted to know if hearing aids may also be linked to a longer lifespan. To evaluate this, they tracked the status of nearly 1,900 adults who’d been shown to have hearing loss during screenings and who had tracked their use of hearing aids. What they found, she says, was surprising.
CHOI: One thing that we were surprised was that the group of patients who have hearing loss and report that they were using hearing aids regularly had 24% lower risks of mortality compared to those group who never used hearing aids.
AUBREY: Meaning they were significantly less likely to die prematurely. Prior studies have shown that hearing loss, if untreated, is associated with multiple health problems. And this adds to the evidence that restoring hearing is beneficial. The study does not prove cause and effect. It could be that people who become regular users of hearing aids are more likely to stave off isolation and stay more active, which could explain the longevity boost. Given the benefits, Choi says it’s stunning how few people wear hearing aids regularly.
CHOI: In our study, we found that the rates of hearing aid use was about 12%.
AUBREY: And she says another striking finding is that the people in the study who had hearing aids but did not use them regularly were as likely to die prematurely as the never-users, pointing to the importance of habitual use. She recommends new users wear them every day for 30 consecutive days to acclimate.
CHOI: Hearing loss such is an invisible problem and it happens gradually, that it takes time for you to get used to hearing aids and then get benefit from it.
AUBREY: So Choi says if you have hearing aids sitting in the back of your drawer, not using them due to stigma or maybe just the annoyance of getting used to them – try them again. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
