Fatigue 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 cause tiredness and that’s hearing loss.
That’s at least partially due to the fact that hearing loss usually progresses slowly over time. You might find yourself continuously fatigued for no apparent reason because you failed to recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be very frustrating. This fatigue can often turn into irritability which could cause you to socially isolate yourself. Luckily, your energy levels will usually improve once you get your hearing loss treated.
Hearing loss progresses gradually (and your brain compensates)
Hearing loss is usually a slowly progressing condition that gets worse over time. In its early stages, you probably won’t even notice that you’re developing hearing loss. If you aren’t specifically watching for them, even conspicuous symptoms, like turning the volume on your audio devices way up, can be easy to miss.
One of the more difficult to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often fatigue. You may feel tired no matter how much rest you got the night before. This symptom, unfortunately, isn’t typically associated with hearing loss.
That’s because the cause takes place in your brain. When your ears aren’t getting as much information, your brain works overtime to make sense of it all. Just as extended periods of intense concentration can leave you tired, the extra brain power needed to hear what individuals are saying can be exhausting. Left neglected, this fatigue can grow worse over time, impacting your quality of life and your ability to perform daily routine activities.
Stigma plays a role
So why don’t more individuals just consult a hearing specialist when they start feeling tired? One partial explanation is that individuals just don’t connect tiredness with hearing loss. But the perception of stigma is another cause which can be even more damaging. There’s a feeling that hearing loss is terrible or ruins your life or that there’s nothing that can be done about it. Individuals will frequently avoid pursuing treatment because of these false notions.
However, this stigma is beginning to disappear as more people become open to their hearing loss. Many people understand that hearing loss isn’t some kind of social failing, and the very small nature of modern hearing aids makes them easy to hide around people who sadly will not get over this stigma.
Regrettably, this perception of social stigma can cause people in the early stages of hearing loss to avoid getting the treatment they need leading to more severe permanent hearing loss.
How to deal with hearing loss-associated fatigue
The earliest phases of hearing loss may not have any evident symptoms. That’s why hearing specialists prefer to take a preventative strategy rather than the far more challenging and less effective reactive method. Hearing specialists advocate for regular screenings in order to create a baseline of your healthy hearing, that way they will be capable of identifying changes to your hearing in subsequent screenings. Once this baseline is achieved, early intervention is often much more effective.
If your hearing loss is causing fatigue, there are a few steps you can take to lessen that exhaustion as much as possible. Here are a few of the most prevalent and simplest steps:
- Try to have conversations in quieter places: Sorting out voices from background noise can be challenging when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re wearing hearing aids or not). Moving conversations to an area with less background noise can make it easier for your brain to focus on the voice you’re trying to hear, minimizing fatigue in the process.
- Consult a hearing specialist: It’s important to monitor your hearing health. Visiting a hearing specialist can help you detect hearing loss in its early stages when it’s less of a problem and your brain doesn’t need to work as hard to compensate.
- Give yourself a break in between conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet break somewhere. This can help your brain recuperate from all the work it’s doing and make day-to-day communication a little more sustainable.
- Be certain you wear your hearing aids as frequently as you can: Hearing aids are manufactured to help you focus on the sounds of human speech, meaning conversation will be significantly easier to make out when you are hearing them. This means you won’t be as fatigued because your brain won’t have to work so hard.
It’s most likely time to schedule an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing fatigue with no evident cause. You can lessen your fatigue and boost your energy by treating your hearing loss. Don’t let stigma cause your hearing loss to continue to be untreated.