Whether you like big courses at the West Lake Country Club or low-key nights at the Putt-Putt Fun Center, you know that golfing requires coordination and balance. While the two may not seem related, untreated hearing loss is one factor that can disrupt your balance, effectively turning your birdies into bogies.
How Can Hearing Loss Impact My Balance?
A 2025 systematic review of 27 studies and over 5 million participants found that people with hearing loss were at a 51% greater cross-sectional and 17% greater longitudinal risk of falling than their counterparts without hearing loss.
A 2013 study suggested a few potential reasons why this increased risk occurs:
- The cochlear dysfunction causing hearing loss could also affect the balance organs in the inner ear
- The lack of auditory cues can limit your background awareness
- The increased cognitive load required to move about the world with hearing loss can deplete the resources you need to focus on balance
Will Treating Hearing Loss Improve My Golf Game?
Improving your golf game relies on a number of factors, from club choice to stance. While hearing aids can’t change those factors, they can help you access auditory cues to improve your background awareness and reduce the cognitive load to help your brain focus on balance.
We still need more clinical trials to understand the full connection between hearing aids and balance improvement, but the current evidence makes a strong case for early treatment.
How Else Can Hearing Aids Improve My Golfing Experience?
There are two main ways hearing aids can improve your overall non-balance-related golfing experience:
- Amplifying speech. Golf is a social game, and untreated hearing loss can cause you to miss funny jokes or feel left out of the conversation. Hearing aids amplify speech sounds to bring the social aspect of golf back to life.
- Keeping you safe. If you’re an avid golfer, you know that the word “FORE” means you should duck or move out of the way before an errant golf ball knocks you on the head. Hearing aids keep you aware of these critical sounds for a safer game.
Schedule Your Hearing Appointment
If you’ve been feeling unsteady on the course or noticed that things sound a little quieter than usual, contact Augusta – Aiken ENT & Allergy to schedule an appointment with one of our hearing specialists today.