Month: November 2021

Do you remember the Life Alert commercials that made famous the phrase, “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”? While young people might find those ads rather humorous, falling is no joke. For older people, falling can be a significant fear—and a real risk. Balance naturally declines with age, which makes older people more likely to fall.Hearing also declines with age, and a growing body of research shows that hearing loss can increase the risk of falls. With both balance and hearing in decline as you age, the risk for falls can become high.
How is hearing connected to balance?
According to research, what you hear (and don’t hear) can directly affect your balance. A study of people aged 40 to 69 found that a 25-decibel hearing loss triples your chance of falling. That is the equivalent of going from normal hearing to mild hearing loss. Furthermore, the age range of the study participants (40-69 years of age) is the same range in which many people first experience hearing loss and are not accustomed to guarding against falls.
While the link between hearing loss and balance is still being researched, audiologists have pinned down a few ways they are connected:

1. Sound helps you balance. Researchers believe that people with poor balance benefit from auditory cues to help them avoid falls. In addition, stable sounds can help people keep their balance—similar to looking at one spot on the wall in order to help balance. If you have hearing loss and cannot hear those stable sounds, however, you are more likely to lose your balance and fall.
2. Hearing uses up brain power, and so does balance. Mental resources are finite. If your brain is using up extra cognitive power to try to interpret sound due to hearing loss, it has less mental resource to assign to balance. Balance is cognitively demanding, so the extra strain of trying to hear with hearing loss can result in a loss of balance.
3. Aging causes a decline in your vestibular sense. The vestibular sense is a set of receptors in your inner ear that come into play whenever you move your head. Your vestibular sense is also activated by the downward pull of gravity and helps you feel grounded. However, research shows that the vestibular sense may begin to decline around age 40. Loud low-frequency sounds can damage the inner ear, which can also disrupt your vestibular sense and result in balance (and hearing) problems.
   Of course, not all people with age-related hearing loss have inner ear problems, and vice versa.
4. Hearing loss is linked to depression and anxiety. Untreated hearing loss increases your risk for depression and anxiety. If you are caught up in these mental issues, you may be less alert and more likely to fall. Furthermore, depression is linked to a greater incidence of falling, and increased falls lead to increased depression, which creates a difficult cycle.

How can you reduce your risk of falling?
Reducing your risk of falls can be simple.

• Stay active. Even activities as simple as walking can help to strengthen your muscles and reduce the risk of falls. Other good forms of exercise include balance exercises, resistance exercises, tai chi, water aerobics, and strength training.
• Get your vision checked. Your sense of balance has many contributing factors, including both vision and hearing. Be sure to keep your eye prescription updated. Tint-changing lenses and bifocals are less appropriate for older people.
• Wear your hearing aid. University of Michigan study found that a first-time hearing aid reduced the risk of fall-related injury by 13 percentage points in the next 3 years.
• Make your home safe. Do a walk-through of your home to make it more fall-proof. Make sure that the tops and bottoms of the stairs are well-lit and ensure that the stair railing is secure. Remove or secure any loose rugs or carpeting. Install grab bars near the toilet and in the shower or bathtub.
• Consider physical therapy. If you are unable to move as you would like, or if you have difficulty performing everyday movements like getting up from your chair, physical therapy may help.

For more information about how you can treat hearing loss and reduce your risk of falls, we invite you to contact our hearing practice today.

When you think of getting older, you might think of physical changes like hair turning gray or white, skin becoming more wrinkled, or increased difficulty in getting around. Hearing loss or vision loss may also come to mind—after all, it’s almost a stereotype for older people to wear reading glasses and hearing aids.
In reality, many people do experience loss of hearing or eyesight as they age. In the United States, approximately one in three people from the age of 65 to 74 have age-related hearing loss, and about half of people older than 75 have difficulty hearing. In addition, approximately one in three people have some form of vision-reducing disease by the age of 65. It is clear that losing some hearing or eyesight as we age is far from rare.
However, age-related hearing loss or vision loss can also affect your mind and memory. This was demonstrated in a new study that was published in the April 2021 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that people with both hearing and vision loss were twice as likely to have dementia than those who had normal seeing and hearing or only one impairment.
The study followed 6,520 people between the ages of 58-101. The study participants were asked to complete a questionnaire that included questions about their hearing and vision. At the start of the study, 932 participants had normal hearing and vision, 2,957 had either visual or hearing impairment, and 2,631 reported that they had both. The researchers found that dementia was more than twice as common among those with both hearing and vision impairment at the beginning of the study.
The study followed the participants during a six-year period. During those six years, 245 people developed dementia. After adjusting for factors like sex, income, and education, the researchers found that those with both hearing and vision impairment were twice as likely to develop dementia as those without impairment. They also found that participants with only one impairment were no more likely to develop dementia than those with normal hearing and seeing. Furthermore, when thinking tests were administered to the study participants, those with both hearing and vision impairment showed a steeper decline in scores.
JinHyeong Jhoo, M.D., Ph.D., one of the study authors, noted that additional research is needed to better understand why having both hearing and vision loss increases the risk of dementia while having only one impairment does not. Researchers have hypothesized that the increased risk of dementia among this group may be related to greater social isolation and depression. People with only one impairment can often maintain their social lives to an extent, while those with both hearing and vision loss are more likely to experience social isolation and depression. In turn, social isolation and depression have been linked to a greater risk for dementia and cognitive decline.
It is important to have your hearing and vision tested regularly so you can take steps to treat any conditions (like wearing hearing aids or glasses). To learn more about how you can protect yourself from dementia or to schedule an appointment with our hearing specialist, we welcome you to contact our office today.