Can you wear hearing aids if you dont need them?

When people first get hearing aids, they may have a number of different concerns. There’s certainly an adjustment period, and you’ll have to learn how to wear your hearing aids, figure out how to keep them clean and get used to hearing sounds that you’ve been missing for years.

One of the concerns that many people have is that their hearing aid will worsen their hearing loss. Do hearing aids cause a “lazy ear” and allow your hearing to become weaker? Will they make your hearing loss worse in the long run?

Hearing aids do not worsen hearing loss

In fact, hearing aids do not make hearing loss worse. It’s understandable to worry about the possibility. As audiologists, we’re constantly warning people about the dangers of exposure to loud noises, which certainly do cause hearing loss over time. Because hearing aids amplify sounds and make them louder, it’s very reasonable to worry that this will cause additional hearing loss.

However, hearing aid manufacturers have built-in safety controls to ensure that hearing aids aren’t dangerous to your hearing. Although your hearing aid will certainly make sounds louder than they would be without the device, it will not create sounds that are loud enough to cause damage to your hearing. The safety controls in the hearing aid are able to prevent this. 

With newer digital hearing aids, technology has become very good at selectively amplifying the sounds that you want to hear, such as voices. This allows the hearing aid to keep the overall volume lower, while still allowing you to hear important sounds clearly.

Why does it seem like my hearing aids damaged my hearing?

Although hearing aids are safe and will not damage your hearing, sometimes it can seem like they have. This is simply an illusion. When you have hearing loss, your brain gets used to sounds being very quiet. After getting hearing aids, it will then adjust to the new normal, where sounds are easier to hear. Once this adjustment has occurred, when you take your hearing aids out, your brain will notice the contrast between what you hear with the hearing aid and without it. What used to seem normal now seems excessively quiet. This is why it might seem like your hearing aids have made your hearing worse, even though they haven’t.

This doesn’t mean that your hearing loss won’t get worse after you get your hearing aids. If you have presbycusis (age-related hearing loss), then the aging process will continue to take its toll, regardless of whether or not you wear hearing aids. Even without hearing aids, your hearing would likely continue to get worse. Wearing hearing aids doesn’t stop this process. You might need to have your hearing aids adjusted in the future if your hearing changes.

Phoenix Mesa Gilbert Chandler hearing doctor

If you’re experiencing hearing loss, there’s no need to worry that getting hearing aids would make this situation even worse. Hearing aids can improve your quality of life and can even help to protect your brain. If you’re in our area, we invite you to schedule an appointment for a hearing test with one of our highly qualified and friendly audiologists. We’ve helped thousands of people to experience the benefits of properly selected, fitted, and adjusted hearing aids. Simply contact our office at 480-456-0176 to schedule your appointment.

Hearing aids are meant to be worn daily. But you’re also supposed to wash out your milk jugs before you recycle them. We don’t always do what we’re supposed to. The same goes for hearing aids. Occasionally we forget to take them with us. You might even forget to wear it for more than a day.

That isn’t a very smart idea. Because there are numerous things that happen (or continue to happen) when you don’t use your hearing aids. And most of them, honestly, aren’t very good.

Effects And Consequences of Going Without Hearing Aids

Much of what occurs when you fail to wear your hearing aids will affect both your hearing health and your social life, each with varying levels of severity and intensity. The effects and consequences of failing to wear your hearing aids could include the following.

Your Degree of Hearing Loss Will Get Worse

The technology of hearing aids is fairly impressive. They increase your ability to hear and help keep your auditory complex (the part of the brain that interprets sound) running efficiently.

You may damage your hearing even more if, instead of using your hearing aids, you start cranking up the volume on your devices even higher than they already are. Even if you’re keeping the volumes in check, problems with your brain can result from the lack of sensory input. (It actually shrinks.) So you’ll most likely end up needing more powerful hearing aids in the future if you fail to use your current pair because your hearing will continue to get worse.

Social Interactions Will Become More Stressful (And Less Consistent)

You know when you go to the market and you get into a short conversation with the cashier? They’re enjoyable, we think. In a world of technology, these little talks are a touch of humanity.

When you don’t wear your hearing aids, these simple social connections can quickly become much more stressful. You need to ask the cashier to repeat himself. Again and again. And that’s when the conversation becomes really uncomfortable. That may not sound serious but every time a situation like this occurs, you will tend to withdraw socially more and more. And that can cause even bigger problems.

Cognitive Decline And Hearing Aids

When you separate yourself socially, your brain gets much less exercise. After you have a pleasant conversation with your family, think about how invigorated (or exhausted) you can feel. Without that exercise, certain mental processes can start to decline (or decline faster). This could mean:

• Memory issues
• Depression
• Balance troubles
• Declines in energy or productivity

But there’s more. Because hearing sound is vitally important to certain regions of your brain and nervous system. Without stimulation, certain nerves will start to weaken, and your auditory complex starts to atrophy. This can result in an even more accelerated cognitive decline (or, even in the best-case scenario, make adapting to your hearing aids even more challenging).

Hearing aids keep your brain active, stimulated, and happy (more or less).

Loss of Independence

Needing a little more help, as you age, is not uncommon. Perhaps you ask a family member to go to the store for you or a neighbor to do some yard work. You are probably to accelerate your loss of independence if you’re not using your hearing aids.

When you don’t use your hearing aids, it can rapidly become more difficult to answer the phone or talk with your neighbor. You might miss important weather alerts. Maybe you don’t hear your dog barking when there’s somebody at the door or your cat meowing at 6 am when he needs food.

What’s The Solution?

Wearing a hearing aid is not going to solve all of life’s issues, regardless of how technologically innovative those little devices get. But they will solve a lot of the issues related to not wearing your hearing aids.

You need to come see us for help if you’re having issues with your hearing aids or if they are uncomfortable.

But if you’re looking for reasons to avoid using your hearing aids, if you’re just forgetting them in the nightstand drawer, it’s worth taking some time to consider what might be gained by using them… and what could happen if you don’t wear your hearing aids.

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