Effect of hearing loss on mental health

Watch a movie with the sound muted for 30 minutes. You will find it agonizing

to follow the lip-sync to decipher the dialogue that the actors speak. If you
cannot bear this for even half-an-hour, imagine how tormenting it would be

for the hearing impaired when their entire day spins out like a silent movie?
Yes, hearing loss does affect the mental health of the patients.

Most people don't realize this fact and seem to ignore the difficulties of the

hearing-impaired individuals. But not anymore. With October being the

"Protect your Hearing" month and October 10 being the "World Mental Health

Day", let us make this an effort to spread awareness that hearing loss causes
mental health issues.

What are the mental health issues that hearing loss causes?
Hearing loss causes a host of mental health issues like
 1. Depression
2. Anxiety

3. Schizophrenia
4. Dementia

5. Anger outbursts
6. Suicidal tendencies

A JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck surgery Report (2014) reports that

11.6% of the hearing-impaired individuals suffer from depression more than

that 5.9% who suffer from depression albeit with normal hearing. This just
justifies the statement that hearing loss can really affect mental health.

How do individuals with hearing loss suffer from mental health?

Individuals with hearing loss exhibit these behavioural symptoms that show

that they are mentally affected.

Hearing-impaired individuals find it difficult to carry on a conversation

normally and might

 Interrupt or intrude into a conversation abruptly

 Talk off-topic
 Dominate the conversation by shouting as they think talking covers up

for listening
All these actions make them inept at handling themselves socially, leading to

isolation and hence severe depression.

Hearing loss and depression

In a study of 2300 hearing -affected people by the National Council of ageing,
60% developed depression. The University of Colorado attributes this to "brain

reorganization" where the hearing centres shrink and are replaced by other
task centres. This leads to a loss of short- term memory and problem-solving

skills, ending in depression.

Hearing loss and schizophrenia

Since the society mostly excludes and isolates hearing-impaired individuals,

they tend to suffer from loneliness and depression. This increases the

sensitization of the dopamine system causing schizophrenia. Due to this social

exclusion, hearing-impaired patients tend to become psychotic with

hallucinations and delusions leading to schizophrenia.

Hearing loss and dementia

Studies at the John Hopkins University have found that hearing loss leads to
memory decline in aged adults followed by dementia. The reduced social

engagement of the hearing-impaired patients and the cognitive stress they

face in having to deal with hearing loss can make them lose their memory very

quickly. This mental illness can be easily resolved by the use of simple hearing
aids which will automatically increase the brain's function by hearing.

All these mental health issues can be easily remedied by consulting an expert
ENT doctor and undergoing hearing loss treatment. Sometimes, hearing aids

are enough to improve the situation and must be procured only from an ENT
hospital.
Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a hearing condition where the individual suffers from a "loud ringing
in the ears". This may be caused due to age, excessive noise exposure or some

ear injury. But this ringing persists causing fear and anger leading to mental
health disorders like anger, anxiety, depression and even suicidal ideation.

Meniere's disease
Meniere's disease is an inner ear disorder that results in pain in the ear,

vertigo and Tinnitus. Due to these severe symptoms, the patients experience
anxiety, stress and even have insomnia and panic attacks. This hearing

problem can be resolved using cochlear implants, thereby giving the patient
relief from mental stress.

Partial or total hearing loss cannot be taken lightly and must be attended to, at
once as it may have severe repercussions on the mental health of the patient.

Head to an expert ENT hospital and undertake the right ENT treatment to
safeguard both your hearing and mental health.