The Hidden Dangers of Untreated Hearing Loss: What You Need to Know

By Dr. Allen Craig – Harmony Hearing Center

Untreated hearing loss is far more common — and more serious — than most people realize. Many people start with mild difficulty hearing conversation, especially in background noise. They may say “Huh?” or “What?” more often, or misunderstand parts of conversations. At first, these moments may seem humorous, but over time the consequences become more significant.

How Untreated Hearing Loss Affects Daily Life

As hearing declines, communication becomes harder. People may struggle to understand a spouse, a friend, or even a healthcare provider. Activities they once enjoyed — like eating out, attending church, or social gatherings — become frustrating instead of enjoyable. Eventually, many people begin avoiding these activities altogether.

This withdrawal leads to social isolation, which research shows can negatively affect both health and longevity.

New Research on Untreated Hearing Loss & Cognitive Decline

One of the most concerning findings in recent years is the strong connection between untreated hearing loss and cognitive decline. A major 2022 study showed a direct link between untreated hearing loss and increased risk of dementia. Even more importantly, individuals who treated their hearing loss experienced a measurable slowing of cognitive decline in more than half of documented cases.

Early treatment matters — and waiting until things become severe often leads to poorer outcomes.

The Good News: Hearing Loss Is Treatable

For most people, hearing loss can be effectively managed. The first step is a hearing consultation, which helps identify the type and degree of hearing loss. When appropriate, a full hearing aid evaluation provides detailed information about how hearing is affecting communication.

After 27+ years of experience, our team has seen firsthand how early treatment improves quality of life — for you and the people you love.

Schedule a Hearing Consultation

If you or someone you love has a hearing problem, we’d love to help.

Contact Us, or email us at info@hearingaidsjonesboro.com

Full Transcipt

Dr. Allen Craig – Harmony Hearing Center

Good afternoon. This is Dr. Allen Craig with Harmony Hearing Center. Thank you so much for giving me a few minutes of your time today. I wanted to talk a little about hearing loss—specifically, untreated hearing loss.

There are some symptoms of untreated hearing loss that are pretty easy to see and are relatively common. For example, people with untreated hearing loss often say “huh?” or “what?” very frequently. They may have difficulty hearing and understanding normal conversation, especially if there is background noise or if the conversation is happening on the television.

Sometimes this can even seem funny because of how often it happens, or because the person with hearing loss hears something different than what was actually said and answers the wrong question. Many of us have experienced this.

Unfortunately, untreated hearing loss stops being funny pretty quickly, because it begins to impact the person’s ability to hear and understand things that are important or valuable. When an individual can no longer clearly communicate with a spouse or close family member, it becomes frustrating—and sometimes even embarrassing.

When someone can no longer hear their pastor, their Sunday school teacher, or their healthcare provider, it starts having a significant impact on quality of life. And the difficulties caused by untreated hearing loss tend to get worse instead of better.

People might start out saying “huh?” or “what?”, but over time they stop asking and simply accept that there are things they’re not going to hear. If you’ve ever sat in a group of family or friends and completely missed the punchline of a joke, you know what I mean.

This leads to a measurable decrease in how much a person enjoys certain places, activities, and events. For example, going out to eat becomes an aggravation instead of an enjoyable time to catch up. Going to church begins to make less sense when someone can no longer hear the sermon or Bible lesson. At this point, people move from frustration to actually avoiding restaurants, ball games, and worship services.

For me, this is when hearing loss becomes something I’m not okay with—when a person stops doing things they used to enjoy. Untreated hearing loss doesn’t just affect communication; it leads to isolation. And studies have shown clearly that isolation—whether from hearing loss or another cause—negatively affects overall health and even longevity.

One of the most concerning potential effects of untreated hearing loss is something many of you may have heard about: the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline or dementia. A study published in 2022, which is still being analyzed, showed definitively that there is a direct connection between untreated hearing loss and mental decline. Individuals who treated their hearing loss had a measurable slowing of cognitive decline in over half of the cases studied.

Concerns about cognitive decline and dementia are very real for many people. It seems more prevalent, or perhaps it has affected someone you know and love. While we still have a lot to learn, we do know that untreated hearing loss is a significant risk factor. The good news is that hearing loss is treatable for the vast majority of people.

From research—and from nearly 28 years of personal experience—I can tell you that sooner is better. People who wait until they feel they have no other option never get the same outcome as those who start early.

So what does the process look like? It begins with a basic hearing consultation. This gives us a clearer picture of a person’s hearing needs and hearing problems, and it lets us answer any questions about hearing loss or hearing aids.

If the hearing loss seems to warrant it, we can also do a complete hearing aid evaluation, which gives us specific information on how severe the problem is and exactly what parts of hearing are being affected.

As we’ve seen, hearing loss and its potential effects can be complex and progressive—but getting started is simple. It’s just a matter of making an appointment for a basic consultation so we can talk and gather more information about your needs.

You can contact us by phone at 870-268-1488, or online at www.hearingaidsjonesboro.com.

If you have any questions about hearing loss, untreated hearing loss, hearing aids, or anything I’ve talked about today, don’t hesitate to email us at info@hearingjonesboro.com.

If you or someone you love has a hearing problem, we would love to be part of the solution.Thanks again for having me in your home for a few minutes, and have a wonderful day.