When you picture a person wearing hearing aids, you are likely picturing someone in their late 60s and 70s. While it’s true that one in three people aged 65 to 74 have hearing loss, it may not be as uncommon in young people as you think. The National Council on Aging released statistics defining the number of young Americans with hearing loss in 2020. The statistics revealed a few interesting numbers:
- In 2020, there were 600,000 Americans aged 20-39 with mild hearing loss (150,000 people between 20-29 plus 450,000 people aged 30-39)
- In 2020, there were 330,000 Americans aged 20-39 with moderate to complete hearing loss (30,000 people between 20-29 plus 300,000 people aged 30-39)
The perception around who wears hearing aids is quickly evolving to include those of all ages. If you have recently been diagnosed with hearing loss but are hesitant to use hearing aids, take a look at a few of our excellent reasons that embracing hearing aids at a young age can greatly improve your quality of life.
Hearing Aids Help You Grow Your Social Life
Whether you’re in your first year of college, starting out in your career or just trying to find people with common interests, making friends as an adult is hard. For those with hearing loss, making friends can present extra unique challenges.
When you struggle to understand and communicate with those around you, building a strong and lasting friendship can be challenging. Hearing aids amplify speech sounds to help you better understand those around you and pave the way for lasting friendships.
Better Mental Health
Untreated hearing loss can make it more challenging to interact with those around you, leading to poor social engagement, depression, anxiety and more. One study found that hearing aid adoption could significantly reduce the odds of developing depressive symptoms.
While hearing aids should not be considered mental health treatment, they can effectively manage the hearing loss contributing to poor mental health.
Improved Safety
We constantly rely on our hearing to keep us safe. From alerting us to car horns to hearing someone call out “DUCK” as an errant frisbee flies at you in Bergfeld Park, missing these important auditory cues can have a negative effect on our safety.
Hearing aids help you locate and pay attention to the essential auditory information you need to lead a safe life free of avoidable frisbee-induced concussions.
A well-rounded social life, better mental health and improved safety are just three of the many benefits hearing aids provide. To learn more about how hearing aids can help you, contact SoundLogic today to make an appointment with one of our specialists.