Hearing aids may prolong your life, new research from the US has suggested.
Those who wear hearing aids reduce their risk of dying by almost 25 per cent compared to those who don’t use them but should.
Past research has found that untreated hearing loss can result in a greater risk for dementia. Now, this research may suggest that hearing aids may play a protective role in people’s health and prevent early death.
Exciting
Dr Janet Choi, lead researcher with Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, said: “We found that adults with hearing loss who regularly used hearing aids had a 24% lower risk of mortality than those who never wore them.
“These results are exciting because they suggest that hearing aids may play a protective role in people’s health and prevent early death
According to hearing loss charity RNID, 12 million adults in the UK are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus.
Stigma
An estimated seven million could benefit from hearing aids but only about two million use them.
The researchers used data compiled by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the US between 1999-2012 to identify almost 10,000 adults 20 years and older who had had hearing evaluations and who filled out questionnaires about their hearing aid use.
The study found that the 24% difference in death risk between regular hearing aid users and those who had never used hearing aids remained steady, regardless of factors such as the degree of hearing loss, age, ethnicity, income, education and other demographics and medical history.
Cognitive decline
But they acknowledge that factors such as stigma and difficulty finding devices that fit and function well, are barriers to use.
Crystal Rolfe, director of health at RNID, said: “Hearing aids bring enormous benefits for people with hearing loss.
Research shows that wearing hearing aids may reduce the risk of cognitive decline and it is well known that they have positive effects on physical, social, emotional and mental wellbeing.
“Now it’s possible that hearing aids may even help people with hearing loss live longer and we would welcome more research to understand the link.”
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Read more about the study here
