Hearing loss can be a costly affair. Not only does it cost you your physical and mental health, it also costs you a significant amount of your annual work income as well as your personal and professional relationships. Hearing loss can even result in significant monetary costs in terms of health care, medical ailments, and injuries sustained due to hearing loss.
Recent research from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine explored the effects of hearing loss on overall health. They found that hearing loss results in lower satisfaction from life, higher levels of depression, and poorer health. Significant medical illnesses were found to be associated with hearing loss, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and dementia.
People who do not treat their hearing loss were found to incur 46% higher costs when it came to medical care, compared to those with normal hearing. This amounted to an additional cost of $22,434 over a decade.
Those with untreated damage to hearing tended to have more outpatient visits and higher readmission rates compared to those with regular hearing. Those with hearing loss had twice the likelihood of being hospitalized compared to those with no hearing loss.
The reason why hearing loss results in increased healthcare costs is due to the fact that hearing loss hampers your stability and equilibrium. Simply put, you have trouble remaining upright and have a higher chance of sustaining injuries due to falling as a result of hearing loss. Those with hearing loss also have a significantly higher rate of suffering from deterioration in their cognitive abilities, which can lead to dementia over time. This occurs due to the increased social isolation and lack of communication that occurs as a result of hearing loss.
Hearing loss robs you of the ability to communicate effectively with those around you. This in turn can also lead to an increase in healthcare costs due to poor communication that occurs while you are hospitalized. Those with hearing loss often have difficulty in understanding what the doctors and nurses are saying. Similarly, the doctors and nurses also have trouble understanding the hearing impaired patient since the patient is often unable to provide accurate answers to follow up questions that are asked by medical professionals. This can result in poorer diagnoses and treatment, resulting in increased readmission rates in the future for those with untreated hearing damage.
Having a hearing difficulty is hard enough as it is. You can simplify this difficulty by having your hearing checked by an audiologist and getting hearing aids to treat your hearing loss. This significantly reduces your healthcare costs by helping you remain safe, active, and more able to communicate effectively in times of need.