Does hearing loss contribute to anxiety during the holidays?
During the holidays, we look forward to spending time with family and friends. However, joyous gatherings can become overwhelming and even more so for those with hearing loss. Holiday parties can be quite the sensory overload, taking place in acoustically challenging locations with lots of noise and simultaneous conversations.
If you’ve been in this type of situation and have found yourself exhausted afterwards, you have experienced “cognitive overload.” This can occur when your brain is trying to process a lot of information or stimulation. Hearing loss can contribute to cognitive overload, especially in challenging listening situations, such as a party. When someone has hearing impairment, it takes extra effort to understand others and focus on the conversation in spite of the noise, thus making it more difficult to process the conversation and commit it to memory. The holidays are a wonderful time to make new memories, but due to cognitive overload, we may not be able to recall some of these happy conversations.
Properly fit hearing devices have been proven to reduce cognitive overload. When hearing loss is properly addressed by an audiologist, the brain is no longer working overtime. Conversations are enhanced without extra effort and you can enjoy your celebrations with loved ones.
