We all have those days where things seem a little more difficult than usual. Maybe you slept funny, and your work suddenly seems trickier to do, or you feel drained at the idea of going to happy hour at Finch & Fifth with your friends. For people with hearing loss, this dip in energy may occur most frequently after long days or weeks of communication, a symptom known as auditory fatigue.
What Causes Auditory Fatigue?
When you have hearing loss, every conversation involves a little more effort. When some sounds, or whole words, are indecipherable, it may be as if talking to other people is like trying to solve a riddle. All that extra effort can drain your energy. You’ll likely notice auditory fatigue most after high-communication days, say, when you have a lot of meetings or go out with your friends. Fortunately, there are effective ways to combat that fatigue.
Combating Auditory Fatigue
Auditory fatigue management focuses on making conversations easier to understand. Try the following:
- Wear hearing aids. Your hearing aids are like power steering in your car. Without it, the wheel will take extra effort to turn. The power steering, or in this case the hearing aids, take on some of that effort, making it easier to turn the wheel or understand speech. Wear your hearing aids daily and take advantage of features like directional microphones or noise suppression in busy environments.
- Listen to audiobooks. It may sound counterintuitive to expose yourself to even more speech, but audiobooks are a form of auditory training. They get your ears and brain used to picking up and sorting through speech to understand the meaning of what’s being said. Auditory training is especially important when you get hearing aids after a long time of living with untreated hearing loss. For the first few weeks of wearing your devices, listen to an audiobook for 15to30 minutes a day.
- Take breaks. If you’re starting to feel fatigued, take a listening break. You could go for a walk, grab a snack or just take a few minutes to sit in a quiet place and let your ears recharge.
Managing auditory fatigue will safeguard your energy for more pleasant days. For more information on managing auditory fatigue or to schedule a hearing aid appointment, contact Augusta – Aiken ENT & Allergy today.