Health x Wellness

Are Your Hearing Problems Affecting Your Social Life?

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Research has found that hearing difficulties among older adults not only affect their ability to communicate, but also their ability to move about and participate in social activities or hobbies.

Do you often experiencing hearing difficulties and prefer to stay home instead? You may not have completely lost your sense of hearing but hearing problems are indeed a common affair for older adults. Studies have found that the prevalence of hearing problems typically increases with age, affecting about nearly two third of adults aged 70 years and older.

Besides affecting the ability to communicate effectively, recent research by the Gerontology Research Centre at the University of Jyväskylä, has shown that hearing problems among older adults can actually reduce their quality of life. The study was conducted on about 850 community-dwelling older adults aged 75 to 90 years old over a two-year monitoring period, to find out if self-reported hearing affects life-space mobility among older adults.

Life-space mobility was defined by the spatial size a person moves through in daily life, the frequency of moving, and the need for assistance. These factors in turn reflect how much a person engages with the community.

The results suggest that those with hearing difficulties moved less within their life spaces, and therefore engaged less with the community. Those who were hard of hearing were twice as likely as others to limit their life space only to nearby areas, while those with good hearing more often had life spaces that remain unlimited.

The researchers explained that older adults with hearing difficulties are deterred from going outside of home due to feelings of frustration, embarrassment or being left out of things as a result of their communication problems. This could also lead to social withdrawal and reduced participation in social activities, which explains a reduction in life-space mobility.

On top of that, hearing difficulties may also impair one’s ability to observe environmental hazards, which may create a reluctance to head outdoors and be exposed to such challenging situations.

The issue with this is that spending most of your days indoors due to hearing problems will not only keep you inactive and socially unengaged, but also lead to an overall decrease in quality of life.

As hearing problems are often considered an inevitable consequence of ageing, many may tend to ignore its everyday impact on their lives. These findings suggest that there is a need to recognise your hearing difficulties earlier as you age, (and not simply ignore them) so as to maintain a more active and stimulating lifestyle. Being socially and mentally engaged as you age has many benefits to your health, and if hearing problems are what’s stopping you, it’s best to get it checked!

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