Our energy levels ebb and flow from day to day. You might sleep six hours one night and feel peppy, then get nine hours the next and still find yourself reaching for multiple lattes from Mug On the Go. Part of the reason for that seemingly nonsensical pattern is that sleep isn’t the only factor that influences how energized you feel. In fact, one often-overlooked cause of persistent fatigue is hearing loss, which can quietly drain your energy even when you’ve had a full night’s rest.
How Does Hearing Loss Affect Energy?
When you have hearing loss, especially when you’re not wearing hearing aids, your brain has to use more energy to process speech. We call that drop in energy listening fatigue.
You can think of listening fatigue as trying to understand speech in a language you speak but haven’t fully mastered. Even though you may speak a secondary language, you have to take that extra step to translate into your native tongue, which can make the conversation feel a little more tiring. Symptoms of listening fatigue may include, but are not limited to:
- Trouble concentrating on or remembering details from a conversation
- Skipping social gatherings
- Frustration during conversations or long meetings
- Headaches
- Tension in the face, neck or shoulders
While listening fatigue can be frustrating, there are ways you can manage it.
Managing Listening Fatigue
Hearing aids are crucial in lessening listening fatigue. By amplifying speech, they lighten the load of communication, leaving you with more energy to enjoy the conversation. Your hearing aids will be most effective when combined with a few of the following tips:
- Talk face-to-face
- Avoid looking at your phone
- Watch lip movements and body language
- Ask people to rephrase instead of repeating what they said
- Ask others to tap you on the shoulder to get your attention before speaking
- Set aside quiet time each day
- Swap phone calls for video calls with captioning services
- Sit at the center where you can see the most faces during group conversations
If listening is stealing your precious energy, contact Benke Ear Nose & Throat Clinic today. We’ll conduct a hearing test and find the best treatment path forward to help you start each day with a little more pep.