Why You Deny Hearing Problems and What Denial Does to Your Brain

YOU’RE AFRAID TO FIND OUT YOU NEED HEARING AIDS

You think it means you’re old.

• What will people think?
• Will it affect my job?
• Will they think I’m weak?

YOU WANT TO LIVE A LONG, HEALTHY LIFE

• You eat right
• You exercise 
• You get your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and vitals checked regularly
• You go to the dentist every 6 months
• You go to the dermatologist to check for moles and growths
• You get your eyes checked regularly
• You look great. Everyone thinks you’re at least 10 years younger than you are.

WHAT’S GOING TO BE YOUR DOWNFALL? WHAT’S GOING TO PUT YOU IN A NURSING HOME?

YOUR INABILITY TO HEAR

What happens to your brain when you don’t hear well?

You have two auditory centers in your brain, a right and a left center. Their main job is to process, interpret, and make sense of the sound they get from your ears. Your ears just collect the sound. It’s your brain that listens. 

When part of the sound is missing, the auditory centers can’t understand what’s going on. They need help. They get help from the frontal lobe next door. The problem is, the frontal lobe is designed for higher cognitive functions, like memory, problem solving, decision making, and personality. When it’s helping the auditory centers just to listen, it has less ability to help you remember what someone said. It has less capacity to solve problems and make decisions. The frontal lobe starts to decline and deteriorate. 

Your brain is exhausted. It’s working overtime just to listen. 

At the end of the day, you’re tired, cranky, and you don’t want to talk to anyone.

It’s mentally exhausting, it’s depressing. It’s isolating. It’s stressful. It’s lonely.

If you wait too long, your brain gives up and is permanently damaged.

STOP DENYING

If someone tells you the TV is too loud, or go get your hearing checked, or I’m tired of repeating…

9 times out of 10…you have a problem.

Early detection and treatment can reverse any damage to your brain that has already occurred from a lack of stimulation.

Waiting too long can lead to permanent cognitive damage and irreversible damage. 

GET YOUR HEARING CHECKED!

Ronna Fisher

Dr. Ronna Fisher, AuD, CCC-A, FAAA is the founder and president of Hearing Health Center, which she established in 1984 in memory of her father, who suffered from untreated hearing loss and died at 53. That personal loss has shaped her entire career. Under her leadership, Hearing Health Center has been voted the best hearing practice in Illinois three years in a row by Hearing Review. In 2005, she expanded her mission by founding the Fisher Foundation for Hearing Health Care, a nonprofit dedicated to making auditory care more accessible. Dr. Fisher earned her doctorate in audiology from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and a member of the Academy of Dispensing Audiologists. Today, Dr. Fisher is focused on the growing body of research linking untreated hearing loss to dementia and cognitive decline, and committed to making sure both patients and the medical community understand what is at stake. As she puts it: You can't remember what you didn't hear.

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