Hearing tests detect hearing loss, but of course, you know that. What may be more surprising is that hearing tests can sometimes offer insights into your overall health. Our bodies are complex, and our organs and systems work together in unexpected ways.
The Complexity of Health
Your auditory system is made up of your ears, cochlea and brain, as well as the nerves and pathways that connect them. But it is also closely connected to your cognitive health, emotional health, the vestibular (balance) system, the cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels) system and the musculoskeletal system.
Therefore, hearing loss isn’t always an isolated issue. Changes in hearing can be early warning signs of conditions that affect other aspects of your health, such as circulation, blood sugar levels or even neurological health.
The Auditory System and Cognitive Health
The brain is the center for processing the sounds collected by the ears. It filters background noise, interprets language, stores information and discerns where sounds are coming from in relation to your place in space. When those signals are reduced, the brain has to work harder to fill in the gaps, which can increase cognitive load and mental fatigue. Mental energy is not an infinite resource; if your brain is working harder to hear, then it has less energy to spend on other tasks.
Conversely, if there’s an issue or condition in the brain, you might notice an effect on hearing, as the brain is impeded from processing sound. Conditions such as tumors, stroke, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease can all impact hearing.
What A Hearing Test Can Reveal
A hearing test measures your listening comprehension abilities, particularly by using what’s known as a speech test, which has you listen to recordings of speech and repeat back or answer questions about what you heard. If your audiologist notices a struggle with listening comprehension, it could flag that something is up with your cognitive health.
The Auditory System and Emotional Health
This is closely related to the section above, as it is also housed in the brain, but it deserves its own section. Untreated hearing loss is often correlated with loneliness and social isolation as patients withdraw from social settings to avoid embarrassment. As it happens, humans are hard-wired to seek social connection, so this withdrawal leads directly to increased risk of depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
What A Hearing Test Can Reveal
If your hearing test results show that you have any degree of hearing loss, your audiologist may, with the above connection in mind, screen you for depression or ask you questions about anxiety. Perhaps you’ve been feeling the symptoms of depression, but had not associated them with untreated hearing loss. Your audiologist can make that connection and get you to the help and resources you need.
The Auditory System and Balance
Our auditory and vestibular systems are closely connected because they are located so close to each other in the body. In fact, their main organs sit side by side in the inner ear, and they share a nerve pathway to the brain. Because of this, there are many conditions that affect both of them, such as labyrinthitis, Ménière’s disease, acoustic neuroma (a benign cancerous tumor that grows on the shared nerve) or head or neck trauma.
What A Hearing Test Can Reveal
Some types of hearing loss, as revealed by a hearing test, may offer clues to one of the conditions listed above. If your audiologist suspects you have a condition that might affect both balance and hearing, then you can start treating the balance disorder. This is critical, as falls are one of the leading public health concerns for adults over the age of 65. Taking action on a potential balance disorder can decrease the chances of serious injury from a fall.
The Auditory System and the Cardiovascular System
Like all cells in your body, the sensory cells of the cochlea rely heavily on strong, reliable blood flow to deliver nutrients and other resources to function properly. When that blood flow is interrupted or weakened, it can damage those sensory cells, causing hearing loss. Conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease can all have this effect.
What A Hearing Test Can Reveal
The connection between the auditory and cardiovascular systems underscores the need for regular check-ups with your audiologist as you age. Not only can they help manage any existing or potential hearing loss, but they may also spot signs of other underlying health conditions, such as cardiovascular problems.
Hearing Health Is Part of Overall Health Care
With all of the above in mind, we cannot emphasize enough how important hearing tests are in the maintenance of your overall health. Getting your hearing checked regularly can help you manage a number of aspects of your health, not just hearing. And the best part? Treating hearing loss can, in turn, positively affect other aspects of your health.
If you’re ready to take a proactive step in managing your health, both hearing and overall, then call us at Kampsen Hearing to set up a hearing test appointment.