Can Hearing Loss Affect Your Mood? 

It’s normal for your mood to fluctuate– it’s part of what makes us human. However, there are times when they start to become more common, such as when significant life changes take place, or hormonal fluctuations occur due to menstruation and pregnancy. If you have been experiencing more frequent intense, long lasting, or recurring mood swings can suggest an underlying issue. One cause of mood destabilization is one few might initially expect, and often goes unaddressed. This is hearing loss.

The Wide-Reaching Effects of Untreated Hearing Loss

If you are experiencing hearing loss, it’s important to understand that you are not alone. It’s estimated that in the United States, nearly 30 million people experience hearing loss, according to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). While hearing loss is most common as we age affecting one in three over 65 an half of all people 75 and older, it can occur and affect your daily life at any point. This has particularly affected younger generations, due to exposure to noise from loud music at concerts, sporting events and the use of headphones at dangerous volumes, causing permanent hearing loss. Aside from communication issues, it’s surprising to many how far reaching the effects of hearing loss impact an individual’s life. However, untreated hearing can affect an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional health and often goes undiagnosed.

Hearing Loss and Mental Health

Hearing loss is primarily a communication issue. Even in it’s early less severe stages, it can affect an individual’s ability to hear certain tones and pitches which are essential in deciphering everyday speech. As a result, it can be a challenge and strain on the brain, to fill in missing parts of words which are lost due to hearing issues. This makes it challenging to connect to the people in your life you see daily at work, out and about and at home and over time can erode the quality of your most cherished relationships and standing at work. It’s no wonder that hearing loss when unaddressed would impact our mental health as well.

Our hearing is deeply connected to our cognitive and emotional sensibilities. This means that our hearing shapes how we feel connected to ourselves, others and our surroundings. One of the most prominent of the five senses it’s a connection to the world around us and when it is compromised it makes us less aware of sounds in our life and less able to connect to loved ones. This can impact our sense of independence, sense of self, our confidence, and our likeness to try new things. This is why one of the most devastating side effects of hearing loss which is often undiscussed is chronic depression.

Connecting Mood and Hearing

In a recent study from the University of Gothenburg, researchers explored how hearing loss affects people’s personalities and moods. The results of this remarkable study have been published in the Journal of Personality. Comprising 400 individuals between 80 and 98 years old, they followed the subjects over six years and monitored their physical and mental abilities biannually. The study notes that as time progressed those who became less outgoing over time, often dealt with increasing levels of hearing loss as well.

Anne Ingeborg Berg has a PhD and is a licensed psychologist, and lead researchers on the study commented. “To our knowledge, this is the first time a link between hearing and personality changes has been established in longitudinal studies.” She continued, “Surprisingly, we did not find that declining overall health and functional capacity make people less outgoing. But hearing loss directly affects the quality of social situations. If the perceived quality of social interaction goes down, it may eventually affect whether and how we relate to others.”

Healthy Hearing

This study illuminates the importance of healthy hearing. While most forms of hearing loss are permanent and currently irreversible, the good news is that they can be effectively treated using hearing aids. These tiny microprocessors can be digitally programmed to amplify the sounds you need to hear, based on a hearing exam. This can emulate close to normal hearing, allowing you to connect to the people in your life and feel more likely to try new things and stay more active. If you’ve been struggling with depression and mood swings, it’s important to consider your hearing. Be sure to schedule a hearing exam with us today!