It begins when you need to turn up the television a little louder or ask friends to repeat themselves. Maybe you misunderstand someone on the phone or mistake one word for another when dining out with your friends.

For most people, that is enough to alert them that they should come in for a hearing screening and obtain a baseline hearing test.

For others, they feel like their hearing loss is everyone else’s problem. We hear it all the time: “My wife will speak up, my kids know to email me now instead of call, if someone really wants to talk to me, they’ll get my attention.”

The truth is, however, that hearing loss is all about you. It’s about your brain. You were born with two ears and you need them to work well in order to keep your brain healthy.

In a recent study, Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline (Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D. et al. 2013 JAMA Internal Medicine), Dr. Lin explained his findings:

• Over a 6-year period, individuals with hearing loss had cognitive abilities that declined 30-40% faster than those with normal hearing.
• Levels of declining brain function were directly related to the amount of hearing loss.
• On average, older adults with hearing loss developed significant impairments in their cognitive abilities 3.2 years sooner than those with normal hearing.

The truth is that your wife may not mind yelling, your friends may not mind repeating themselves… But you need to correct your hearing loss in order to keep your brain healthy.

And guess what? As you wear hearing devices and begin to hear better, to understand better, and to better engage with your friends and family, you strengthen your relationship with them.

The wife of one of our patients said it best: “When Bob got the hearing aids, going to dinner with him became a delight! An absolute delight! I felt like we were dating again.”

Contact us today and let us show you why we’re the #1 hearing center in Southwest Florida. We can’t wait to HEAR from you.