- Hi guys, Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology
and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions
in Phoenix, Arizona.
And in this video, I'm gonna show you
why not treating your hearing loss with hearing aids
should scare the heck out of you.
Coming up.
(upbeat music)
Remember those old anti-drug commercials
from back in the eighties?
Well, in case you don't,
just understand that the general premise
of this anti-drug campaign
was to show you how bad drugs were for your brain
by cracking an egg into a hot frying pan.
And while this video is not an anti-drug video
there are a lot of similarities
between drugs and hearing loss
because they both affect your brain negatively.
In fact, I did recreate that 1980s anti-drug video
with more of a hearing loss spin,
so if you wanna see it,
make sure that you stay tuned to the end of this video.
I have to tell you
it is the finest piece of acting that I've ever done.
Now, I'm sure you're wondering, Cliff
how could you possibly compare the negative effects
of untreated hearing loss on the brain
with the negative effects of drug use on the brain?
Well, trust me, I'm gonna get to that in this video
but before I do, if you could do me a huge favor
and click that like button, I really appreciate it
because it gets these videos in front of a bigger audience.
And while you're at it,
if you have not yet hit that subscribe button
with notification bell,
go ahead and do that as well,
because that ensures that you never miss
one of my newly released videos
and I release multiple new videos every single week.
That being said, I really appreciate it
and I also appreciate Phonak, today's video sponsor
but more on them in a little bit.
Now let's go ahead and take a look at the research
to see how untreated hearing loss
negatively impacts your brain.
There have been numerous studies over the past several years
that have shown an increased risk
of cognitive decline and dementia due to hearing loss.
A few of the more notable ones include
a study from Johns Hopkins by Dr. Frank Lin
that indicated a mild hearing loss
doubles your risk of dementia,
a moderate loss triples your risk
and a severe loss increases your risk of dementia
by five times.
A study from the SENSE Cog project indicated
that a decline in memory scores was faster
in individuals who did not treat their hearing loss
with hearing aids
and this decline slowed when the hearing loss was treated.
And then you have the recent study
from the Lancet Commission that identified hearing loss
as the leading potentially modifiable risk factor
for dementia later in life at 9%.
In fact, these are only three of many studies
that have already come out and will continue to come out
since the link between hearing loss and overall brain health
is a top global health concern.
This does prompt us to ask a few questions.
First one being, with untreated hearing loss
what structural changes are actually happening in the brain.
And number two, with these changes
can they be reversed by using hearing treatment?
Of course, I have some research about that as well.
You see Doctors Anu Sharma and Dr. Hannah Glick
out of the University of Colorado at Boulder
have been hard at work studying the actual changes
that occur in the brain due to hearing loss
and the subsequent treatment of hearing loss.
In a study they published in 2017,
they identified that when the human brain is deprived
of one of its sensory modalities,
it results in the recruitment of cortical resources
of the deprived modality by intact sensory modalities.
This is just a technical way of saying
that if you deprive your brain of sound,
other areas of your brain are gonna start taking over
the auditory areas.
In a follow up study they published in 2020,
they identified that "Following clinical treatment
with hearing aids,
a reversal in cross-modal reorganization
of the auditory cortex by vision
was observed in the Age Related Hearing Loss group,
coinciding with gains in speech perception
and cognitive performance.
Thus, beyond the known benefits
of hearing aid use on communication,
outcomes from this study provide evidence
that clinical intervention with well-fit amplification
may promote more typical cortical organization
and functioning and provide cognitive benefit."
Basically, what I'm telling you here
is that if you treat your hearing loss with hearing aids,
it literally changes the way
that your brain processes information.
So not only do you get better speech understanding
but it is likely that you'll have better cognitive
performance down the road as well.
The catch is, you do not get to experience these benefits
unless you consistently wear your hearing aids.
And that is exactly what Phonak, today's video sponsor
is promoting with their new health feature
inside of their new MyPhonak App.
Phonak understands
that just having amazing hearing aid technology
is not enough when it comes to having a significant impact
on your overall health and wellbeing.
They also realize
that you must consistently wear your hearing aids
if you wanna receive the maximum amount of benefit
from your devices.
Perhaps the number one variable
to maximizing your performance with hearing aids
after they have been fit and program properly,
following best practices,
is to increase your overall wear time.
I typically tell all of my patients
that I want them to wear their hearing aids
at least eight hours a day
to maximize their hearing performance,
as well as potentially reverse any negative effects
that have occurred due to auditory deprivation
on their brain.
Inside of the health section of the MyPhonak App,
it is now easy to see what your average daily wear time is,
so you know if you're wearing your devices enough
to prevent the negative brain effects
of untreated hearing loss,
as well as improving your overall hearing performance
especially when it comes
to understanding speech and background noise.
If you think you can wear your hearing aids
for only a few hours a day and certain situations
and get the full amount of benefit from them,
I'm sorry to say that you're mistaken.
Longer wear times equal more benefit, plain and simple.
Of course, with Phonak's focus
on well-hearing is well-being,
not only do they care about your hearing health
and your cognitive health,
they also care about your physical health as well.
There are a number of research studies
that link hearing loss to lower physical activity levels
which is why tracking some basic metrics
like steps while wearing your Phonak hearing aids
can help to encourage more physical activity
which is also associated
with better overall health and wellbeing.
But that's not all,
if you happen to have the Phonak Audeo Fit Hearing aids,
the new Receiver in Canal Heart Rate Sensors
can track your heart rate
to ensure that you are challenging
your cardiovascular system enough throughout the day.
When it's all said and done,
we are just scratching the surface
when it comes to hearing loss
and all of the potentially negative health effects
that will occur if that hearing loss
is not treated correctly.
We also know that there are virtually no negatives
when it comes to treating your hearing losses.
It almost always results in a significant improvement
in your communication ability
and improvement in cognitive function.
So if simply treating your hearing loss
is the key to improving your quality of life
right now and into the future,
the question I have for you is, why wouldn't you?
That's it for this video?
If you have any questions,
leave them in the comment section below.
If you like the video, please share it.
If you want to see other videos just like this one,
go ahead and hit that subscribe button.
Also feel free to check out my new website, hearingup.com.
(upbeat music)
Is there anyone out there who still isn't clear
about what untreated hearing loss does to your brain?
Okay. Last time.
This is your brain.
This is hearing loss.
(egg sizzling)
This is your brain with untreated hearing loss.
Any questions?