In past blogs, we’ve provided evidence from scientific studies showing that your balance and cognitive health are connected to your hearing.

Those studies alone should provide the encouragement you need to make regular hearing checks a common part of your preventative health regimen, like eye tests, dental checkups, and annual physicals.

We’re about to seal the deal! We have just run across another study that shows that the use of hearing aids can help you live longer.

The study came from Dr. Janet Choi from the University of Southern California, whose research shows that patients who used hearing aids regularly had a 24% lower risk of mortality compared to the group that didn’t use hearing aids at all.

As a means of continuing to encourage people in Northern Illinois to consider hearing care as a critical part of better overall health, this week’s update will take a closer look at what Dr. Choi discovered.

How Do Hearing Aids Increase Your Life Expectancy? 

Obviously, hearing aids are not the one solution to living a longer life. Instead, Dr. Choi’s focus is on how individuals with hearing loss challenges who wear their hearing aids on a day-to-day basis experience a lower risk of mortality. 

Choi’s study found that just 12% of her participants wore their hearing aids regularly outside of the study. 

Since hearing loss isn’t a visible issue and because it comes on at a slow pace, most people don’t recognize that they are struggling. Those who do, often neglect to wear their hearing aids regularly, and thus, never adapt to using them every day. 

Professional hearing care can help save lives, bring people together, and keep people active through regular hearing aid wearing, monitoring, maintenance, and professional hearing assessments. 

The stigmas attached to wearing hearing aids often cause people to hesitate when it comes to wearing hearing aids. However, it’s time to do away with the outdated image of wearing a bulky, awkward hearing aid sticking out from behind your ear because advanced digital technology has allowed for smaller, lighter weight, and more powerful hearing aids.  

How Do Hearing Care Professionals Help? 

Professional hearing care by an ENT or doctor of audiology can and will improve your lifestyle and quality of life in many different ways. Prescription-level hearing aids properly programmed, monitored, and maintained help you communicate better, decrease your risk of cognitive decline, lower your risk of balance-related falls, and limit the impact of other negative mental and physical health conditions. 

At Fox Valley ENT Associates, we begin your professional hearing care with a comprehensive hearing assessment designed to evaluate all of the possible causes for your hearing loss challenges, like family history, genetics, infection, noise-related accidents, and even earwax buildup.  

Our in-depth hearing analysis of the data we gather during your testing allows us to develop hearing care solutions that specifically address your unique hearing challenges. However, we don’t just stick a pair of hearing aids in your ears and send you out the door. 

The ongoing care we provide to our patients includes education about your hearing and hearing aids, support while you adapt to the instruments, troubleshooting, maintenance, and repair. Essentially, we help ensure that you will continue to reap the benefits your hearing aids provide, including longer life. 

Hearing loss affects almost 38 million people across America – but only one in four have invested in professional hearing care, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Professional hearing care, alongside properly maintained hearing aids, can make a huge difference in the quality of life you live and how long you live when taken seriously. 

Are You Concerned about Your Hearing?

If professional hearing care and hearing aids could prevent so many negative health consequences and extend your life, then doesn’t it make sense to take a deeper look into whether hearing aids would be a worthy investment?  

Take the first step by scheduling a comprehensive hearing assessment with Fox Valley ENT Associates today.

Request a callback by using the following link, or give us a call at the Northern Illinois hearing clinic nearest you:

Algonquin: (847) 854-0005
Elgin: (847) 741-8500
St. Charles: (630) 377-5000
Huntley: (847) 741-8500

Hearing Assessment

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Brittany Hampsch, AuD

Brittany earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Champaign in 2004 and her doctorate from Northwestern in 2014. She is fluent in American Sign Language and worked as an interpreter before becoming an audiologist. Brittany is passionate about communication and helping those in need in any way she can. Her kindness and helpfulness earn her regular praises from Fox Valley ENT patients who are so grateful that she has joined our team. In her spare time, Brittany is an avid scuba diver, enjoys camping and cooking, and tends to a large saltwater aquarium in her home with her husband and two sons.