What’s Going Around | Wearing hearing aids could help you live longer, study shows
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — If you should be wearing hearing aids and don’t, you may want to reconsider.
A recent study from the University of Southern California showed that those who need and wear hearing aids lower their risk of dying at a younger age by 25%.
“That’s partly because we know that people who actually wear hearing aids, they’re actually doing more to their health to be able to live longer,” Dr. Ana Anzola, an audiologist with Hearing Doctors in D.C., said.
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According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 40 million Americans have trouble hearing. But hearing loss becomes much more common when people age. The CDC reports that hearing loss is such a big issue that it is more common than diabetes.
Anzola said there’s still a stigma to wearing hearing aids.
“They’re not like glasses anymore, right? But hearing aid technology today is so advanced, it’s very small, is miniaturized,” she said. “They have artificial intelligence, directional microphones, artificial intelligence, really reducing the background noise, which is typically what concerns most people.”
Anzola recommends that people should treat hearing loss again sooner rather than later.
“I always say that hearing aids are sexy. There’s no shame in hearing,” she said.
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The current costs for hearing aids can cost up to $5,000. That’s one reason why so few Americans who need them, will actually use them because the devices are not covered by Medicare or by most insurance plans.
Dr. Anzola said that the technology of hearing aids has advanced tremendously. She said she thinks they are “life-changing.”
“They’re really small and they have come a really long way,” she said. “They are small, efficient and effective. They are faster and smaller than ever and really, truly invisible and that’s something that other people are going to say.”
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