Brain needs to work harder with hearing loss

• It needs to relearn speech pathways

• It strains to hear and fill in the gaps

• This can lead to fatigue and tiredness

• This can also lead to stress and anxiety - a body's response to the strain

 

Brain can 'forget' sounds that are no longer being sent by the ears

• Sensory nerves for hearing lose their function and no longer channel sound signals to the brain

• Brain can lose connection to those sounds

 

With hearing loss, the brain is less stimulated as many sounds are no longer being sent by the ears

• Parts of the brain that process these sounds are unused and can start to shrink

• This can lead to cognitive decline that lowers thinking and memory abilities