Hearing aids may do more than just treat hearing loss
Share to twitterAge-related hearing loss is rarely dramatic, happening slowly over time, robbing older people of snippets of conversation and leaving them unable to filter out background noise as well as they once could. Early signs can include routinely cranking up the TV volume and having trouble with phone dialogue. Left untreated, hearing loss can lead to social isolation and mental and physical decline.
The downstream effects of such early intervention could include improved quality of life for patients and lower healthcare costs due to the prevention or delay of chronic conditions and injurious falls, the authors wrote. Only 12% of older people with confirmed hearing loss get hearing aids even when they have insurance to offset part of the costs, the study found.Hearing care in the U.S. is complicated and expensive, requiring an evaluation from an audiologist, purchase of hearing aids, and follow-up visits for tunings, with out-of-pocket expenses that balloon into thousands of dollars -- an estimated $2,000 to $7,000, the study found.
Cultural taboos and lower socioeconomic status among women and some minority groups may deter would-be hearing aid users from improving their hearing. More men than women acquired hearing aids at the time of a hearing-loss diagnosis -- 13.3% of males vs. 11.3% of females, according to the study, which tracked anonymized insurance claims of nearly 115,000 people from 2008 to 2016.
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