There are lots of possible causes of fatigue, everything from being unable to sleep at night to respiratory issues like 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 partially because of the fact that hearing loss usually develops gradually over time. You may find yourself continuously exhausted for no apparent reason because you failed to recognize the symptoms of early hearing loss. This experience can be really frustrating. This exhaustion can often turn into irritability which could cause you to socially seclude yourself. The good news is that treating your hearing loss will frequently improve your energy levels, reducing fatigue and exhaustion.
Your brain will compensate for gradually developing hearing loss
Hearing loss is normally a slowly developing condition that gets worse over time. You may not even recognize that you have a hearing impairment at first. Even prevalent symptoms, like cranking the volume up on your TV and smartphone, can be easy to miss if you aren’t watching for them.
One of the harder to miss symptoms of hearing loss is often exhaustion. You may feel depleted no matter how much rest you got the night before. Regrettably, many individuals don’t intuitively associate this symptom with hearing loss.
Because the cause occurs in your brain, the symptoms aren’t usually considered an ear issue. When your ears aren’t receiving as much information, your brain works overtime to comprehend it all. In the same way as prolonged periods of intense concentration can leave you tired, the additional brain power required to hear what people are saying can be exhausting. Your ability to perform daily tasks and your overall quality of life can be substantially affected over time as your untreated hearing loss grows worse.
The role of stigma
So why don’t more individuals just visit a hearing specialist when they begin feeling fatigued? One partial reason is that individuals just don’t associate tiredness with hearing loss. But there’s another reason that may ultimately be more detrimental: stigma. There’s an impression that hearing loss is terrible or ruins your life or that there’s nothing that can be done about it. People will often avoid seeking treatment because of these false notions.
However, this stigma is starting to disappear as more people become open to their hearing loss. It’s becoming a more common understanding that hearing loss can happen to people of all ages and today’s hearing aids are small enough that the few people who can’t get over this stigma won’t even notice them.
Unfortunately, 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 serious permanent hearing loss.
Solutions for hearing loss-related fatigue
There are frequently no noticeable symptoms of early stage hearing loss. That makes it challenging to effectively take a reactive strategy, and it’s why many hearing specialists prefer preventative techniques. Hearing specialists advocate for regular screenings in order to establish 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 some steps you can take to lessen that exhaustion as much as possible. A few of the simplest and most common measures include the following:
- Try to locate more quiet, secluded spots for conversations: Sorting out voices from background noise can be difficult when you have hearing loss (often whether you’re using hearing aids or not). It will be easier, and less fatiguing, to understand conversations if you move them to a quieter spot.
- Give yourself a rest in between conversations: In between conversation, take a quiet break somewhere. Your brain is working overtime to engage in conversation and brief breaks will make that more sustainable.
- Be sure you use your hearing aids as frequently as you can: One of the primary functions of hearing aids is to clarify human speech, making understanding conversations much easier. This means your brain won’t have to work as hard and you will not experience the same degree of fatigue.
- See a hearing specialist: Keeping an eye on the status of your hearing is essential. Seeing 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 have to work as hard to compensate.
It’s most likely time to make an appointment with a hearing specialist if you’re experiencing exhaustion with no evident cause. Treating hearing loss can help you lessen your exhaustion and boost your energy. Don’t neglect your hearing loss because you’re concerned about the stigma.