Tiredness can have a wide variety of causes, ranging from a simple sleepless night to respiratory conditions such as sleep apnea. But there is something more common that can also be the cause of fatigue and that’s hearing loss.
That’s at least partly because of the fact that hearing loss usually develops gradually over time. You might not immediately recognize the symptoms and, as a result, you might feel as if you are constantly tired for no reason. This can be a frustrating experience. Additionally, this exhaustion can often result in irritability and, ultimately, social isolation. Luckily, your energy levels will typically increase once you get your hearing loss treated.
Your brain will compensate for gradually progressing hearing loss
For most people, hearing loss is a very slow-moving condition that grows worse over time. You may not even realize that you have a hearing impairment at first. If you’re not specifically watching for them, even obvious symptoms, like turning the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to overlook.
One of the more difficult to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often exhaustion. Regardless of how much sleep you get, you could still feel exhausted. Unfortunately, many people don’t instinctively associate this symptom with hearing loss.
Because the cause occurs in your brain, the symptoms aren’t generally considered an ear problem. Your brain has to work overtime to process sound because of the loss of your ability to hear, which can leave you fatigued. This constant extra work is exhausting in the same way that extended periods of concentration can take a toll. Your ability to execute daily tasks and your general quality of life can be significantly impacted over time as your untreated hearing loss gets worse.
Stigma plays a role
So when individuals begin to feel tired, why wouldn’t they simply go see a hearing specialist? There are many explanations: frequently individuals are busy or thinking about other things. But there’s another reason that may inevitably be more detrimental: stigma. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is bad or ruins your life or that there’s nothing you can do about it. All of these things are false, and they stop many people from finding treatment.
However, as more people are open about their hearing loss experience, the stigma has started to disappear. Many individuals understand that hearing loss isn’t some kind of social failing, and the very small construction of modern hearing aids makes them easy to hide around people who unfortunately will not get over this stigma.
Unfortunately, this perception of social stigma can cause people in the early stages of hearing loss to put off on getting the treatment they need resulting in more severe permanent hearing loss.
Treatment options for hearing loss-related fatigue
The earliest phases of hearing loss may not have any apparent symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists favor taking a preventative strategy instead of the far more difficult and less effective reactive approach. For example, scheduling regular screenings with a hearing specialist before you notice symptoms can help establish a baseline of what your healthy hearing looks like. Once this baseline is established, early intervention is frequently far more effective.
You can minimize hearing loss associated exhaustion by taking a few proactive steps. Here are several of the most common and simplest steps:
- Try to have conversations in quieter places: Distinguishing voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re wearing hearing aids or not). It will be easier, and less fatiguing, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter location.
- See a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. When hearing loss is in its early phases, your brain doesn’t have to work as hard as it does when the condition gets worse, and a hearing specialist can diagnose hearing loss when it first begins to develop.
- Take breaks from conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet rest somewhere. This can help your brain recover from all the work it’s doing and make day-to-day communication a little more sustainable.
- If you have hearing aids, wear them as frequently as you can: Hearing aids are designed to help you focus on the sounds of human speech, meaning conversation will be substantially easier to understand when you are hearing them. This means you won’t be as fatigued because your brain won’t need to work so hard.
It’s probably time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no obvious cause. Treating hearing loss can help you minimize your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be neglected.