Have your family, friends, and co-workers been requesting that you get hearing aids but you’ve been stubbornly resisting? Are you feeling that presently you really don’t need a hearing aid or that you’re not missing enough to warrant getting one?
If your hearing keeps getting worse, it could cost you as much as $30,000 each year, even if you assume that it’s fine right now. Not only could you end up hurting yourself by dismissing your hearing loss, you could also cost yourself income and lost opportunities by missing important medical or work information.
Lost opportunities and unemployment
If you don’t hear everything you’re supposed to, it will ultimately effect your work performance. Your inability to hear coworkers could cause a deterioration in relationships and you could lose opportunities for future projects because you failed to follow instructions on past projects. If you become socially isolated at work, you may be overlooked by people at all levels of the company. These “small” things add up over time and affect your ability to attain your highest earning potential. Research conducted by the Better Hearing Institute found that people who have untreated hearing loss earned, on average, $20,000 less a year than people who treated their loss of hearing.
Research also indicates that individuals with neglected hearing loss have a higher risk of being unemployed. People who don’t treat their hearing loss will be 15% more likely to be unemployed. So, as the years pass, neglected hearing loss may wind up costing you lot’s of money.
Additional medical bills from falls
Untreated hearing loss can deal another financial blow by actually making you more likely to have a fall. One study revealed that even individuals with slight neglected hearing loss increase their danger of falling by 300%. In addition, there is a 1.4-fold increase in falls for every additional 10 dB of hearing loss. The researchers conjectured that there could be a connection between the degree of hearing loss and effects on the vestibular system, which handles balance, or that people with greater impairment just became more wrapped up in compensating for the loss than paying attention to particular physical dangers. And of course, those falls result in more medical bills, and thus more cash out of your pocket.
Worse health consequences
But there’s more to it than only that. You might be missing some of the advice from your doctor if you have neglected hearing loss. When it involves your health, you could have negative results if you miss details and that can produce increased health costs. All of these occurrences add up to a huge financial gap. Over time, significantly higher medical expenses will result from neglected hearing loss according to numerous studies. In one study, it was revealed that these people will have a 40% increased risk of trips to the emergency room and over a ten year period, will pay out over $20,000. The University of South Carolina published a study that revealed a 33% increase in healthcare expenses for people with neglected hearing loss over an 18 month time period.
Another study conducted by Johns Hopkins University indicated that people with neglected moderate to profound hearing loss had a significantly higher chance of death.
So, if you want to protect yourself both physically and financially, it’s time to get your hearing checked. You may need hearing aids depending on the results of that test. If you do, you’ll likely be fairly surprised. Hearing aids today are state-of-the-art, really comfortable to use, and sound clear. Make your total life better by taking advantage of this wonderful technology.
References
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2018/patients-with-untreated-hearing-loss-incur-higher-health-care-costs-over-time
https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2022/july-hearing-loss-and-falls