You may not realize this, but your ears play a more prominent role than you think. Having the ability to hear is a blessing that many take advantage of. Not everyone realizes that having the ability to listen to the world around you is a huge part of your life, and plays heavily into your quality of life. Your hearing ability plays a significant role in your personal and personal life (aka your job), and even affects your physical health and safety. It’s common for a person to brush off “a little hearing loss,” usually because they are ashamed or don’t believe it to be a huge deal. However, hearing loss is a serious issue that should be addressed immediately when noticed, even if your degree of hearing loss is small. The impact of hearing loss goes far and wide, but you can help stop this from occurring or find solutions if caught soon enough.

If you are curious about the impact of hearing loss and how it can affect your daily life, learn more about some of the issues that can occur as a direct result of having impaired hearing.

• Feelings of loneliness and social rejection are a common theme among those with impaired hearing. Mostly, because some may get frustrated due to a person’s hearing loss, or the person with impaired hearing shuts themselves off from the world.

• Not being able to hear, or having diminished hearing can be very stressful for some people. Unfortunately, stress is a killer, literally. Being chronically stressed can increase your chances of cancer, heart disease, as well as other diseases.

• Due to the avoidance and withdrawal from social situations, a person with impaired hearing runs a high risk of depression. A common mental illness, depression can really suck the life out of you, literally. Depression can lead to a loss of interest in life, diminished energy, insomnia, and more.

• Unfortunately, if you cannot hear, or are hard of hearing, that can put your personal safety at risk. If you are not able to hear, how are you going to hear a car as you are crossing the street? How are you going to hear fire alarms or severe weather alerts? This is why wearing hearing aids is so important!

• Being hard to hear can affect the amount of money you are able to make. How are you supposed to fulfill your job role when you can’t follow a conversation or have trouble hearing verbal instructions? The point is, it’s nearly impossible, so don’t let impaired hearing negatively impact your financial earnings and career.

• Numerous studies have talked about the link between dementia (or a decline in cognitive function) and hearing loss. Impaired hearing poses a threat to a person’s memory and brain function, so much so a person may have trouble remembering important details, which could leave a hearing-impaired person further into social isolation.