Tired and sluggish at the end of the day? Hearing aids might help

Posted Monday July 24, 2023

It is well known that people with untreated hearing loss tend to have greater mental exertion and fatigue compared to those with untreated hearing loss. The study looked at this in the context of daily experiences.

Briefly, 20 participants took part in a sequence of listening experiments that emulated challenging listening situations, with and without amplification, and undertook subjective and objective measures of listening effort and listening-related fatigue. A TV connector was also used to measure the benefit of tools that support listening in the far field —environments such as classrooms, theatres, conferences and meetings.

The results reported that listening effort and fatigue increased throughout the day in both groups, however, were significantly lower in the group with amplification, and the TV connector considerably increased the reaction time and accuracy of participants paired with hearing aids versus the unaided listeners.

Thus, it is no surprise that technology which supports listening helps to reduced fatigue caused by hearing loss. And the reduction in mental exertion and fatigue has a positive impact on your overall well-being. You can download the full research results here.

Ensuring you have the best possible hearing has a positive impact on factors other than “hearing”, and significant implications for your overall well-being. The wider benefits of hearing aids and far field listening technology, beyond improving audibility, include reducing your listening effort and fatigue.

If you would like further information or to cite the research behind this article, refer to the full story at Phonak’s audiology blog.