Auditory Deprivation – The Importance of Early Assessment & Intervention

Impacts of Hearing Loss:

Hearing loss has a number of negative impacts on a person’s life, with some being more apparent than others. Many people are aware of the negative social impacts hearing loss has on one’s life. These impacts include feelings of frustration during communication, feelings of stress and anxiety, withdrawal from social activities, and loss of independence.

An impact of untreated hearing loss that many people are not aware of is that untreated hearing loss deprives the brain of sound and leads to auditory deprivation.

What is auditory deprivation?

Sound travels on a pathway from our ears to our brains and we don’t actually hear sound until the centers in the brain receive and process the signals from the ears. When hearing loss is left untreated, this pathway of sound from ear to brain isn’t stimulated and weakens over time. The hearing centers in the brain no longer receive and process signals from the ears and without these signals the brain forgets how to process sound overtime. Leaving this pathway deprived of sound contributes to poorer ability to understand speech and poorer hearing performance in all situations.

Importance of Seeking Help Early:

If your auditory system is deprived too long, the process of wearing and accepting hearing aids becomes more difficult. To avoid auditory deprivation it is critical to keep the auditory system active. If you seek help for your hearing loss sooner, the sooner you activate the hearing centers of the brain and the greater success you will have with hearing aids and overall communication.

It is important to note that following adoption of hearing aids, processing in a previously deprived auditory system can improve, but there will always be residual effects of neglecting to treat the hearing loss earlier. Therefore early assessment and intervention are critical to increased success with hearing aids.

What can you do?

If you suspect a hearing loss, have your hearing tested to identify hearing loss as early as possible. If you have hearing aids, wear them for as many hours of the day as possible to keep the auditory pathway stimulated. If you have questions, one of the professionals at Superior Hearing will be happy to help!