By Courtney Parmley, Au.D., CCC-A & Joanna Capobianco, Au.D., CCC-A Audiologists at the Central Illinois Hearing & Balance Center, a Division of Finn. R. Amble, MD, FACS, SC
With the start of a new year, people are ready to say goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017. Resolutions are often made to start off the new year with hopes of a better year to come. Whether your new year’s resolution is making more time to see family, drinking less coffee, or the all-time “famous” resolution of getting healthier and losing weight, there is one part of your health and well-being that you might be ignoring — your ears. When is the last time you had a hearing test? For most people, they will say they had a hearing screening in elementary school. Since hearing loss is linked to so many other health issues, including cardiovascular disease and dementia, our recommendation is to have a hearing evaluation as part of your overall health care.
A recent study was completed by Dr. Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins which followed 639 adults over a course of twelve years. Dr. Lin and his associates discovered that the risk for dementia doubles for those even with a mild hearing loss. A moderate hearing loss tripled the risk, and individuals with a severe hearing impairment were at the highest risk and were five times more likely to develop dementia. Hearing aids, a simple intervention, may help stave off this cognitive decline and dementia in these individuals.
Did you know that having a hearing test may also help in diagnosing cardiovascular disease? David R. Friedland, MD, PhD, Professor and Vice-Chair of Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, has been studying the relationship between cardiovascular disease and hearing. His research suggests that the inner ear, which is responsible for hearing, is very sensitive to blood flow. With the ear being so sensitive to blood flow, early cardiovascular disease may lead to decreased blood flow to the ear, which can then result in hearing loss. Dr. Friedland and fellow researchers found that a certain pattern of hearing loss strongly correlates with cardiovascular disease that may not yet be diagnosed in a patient.
So, take control of your health and start the year off right with a hearing evaluation.
Ask your primary care physician for a referral to the Central Illinois Hearing and Balance Center, a Division of Finn. R. Amble, MD, FACS, SC for a hearing evaluation. Dr. Parmley and Dr. Capobianco, in-house audiologists, are ready to provide top notch hearing health care. Please give them a call today at 309-661-0232. They can even assist you in getting a referral from your physician.