Hearing aids can provide a means to return to near-normal hearing and allay the anxiety that may come with hearing impairment. But how does the brain react?

Hearing plays a major role in our social involvement as well as in our safety because it is the ear that directs the eye to any sound that may portend danger in the environment. We also know that an impairment in hearing is directly involved not only in our social life but in our mental life as well. Depression and a loss of cognitive functioning have both been indicated as participants in hearing loss, and the stigma of wearing hearing aids has only added to the problems.

Particularly for people with hearing loss, hearing aids can have a major impact on the brain’s capacity to perceive sound. According to one theory (a “bottom-up” approach), hearing loss may accelerate cognitive aging by decreasing the amount of processing that takes place in the brain. According to a different idea (a “top-down” approach), early cognitive deficiencies may affect a person’s capacity for sound processing and cause hearing loss. So, it seems, it works both ways and there is an intimate association between hearing and brain activity.

New research is building on the novel suggestion that our ability to effectively hear something is somewhat influenced by the position of our eyes. The Boston University-led study has found auditory attention seems to be fundamentally intertwined with visual spatial attention. In other words, looking at the source of a sound may help you hear it better.

There is, it seems, a synchronicity between the ear and the eye, and as the eye moves, so, too, does the ear drum in some fashion. Two systems, usually thought to be independent, are truly working in concert to help us make sense of our environment, and maintain our balance and cognition.

Hearing devices may help people with hearing loss have better brain function because they require less mental effort to understand speech, according to research. In fact, untreated hearing loss might momentarily cut off the brain’s link to background noise. The presence of hearing aids can help the brain stay active and preserve its capacity to process sound over time by restoring the ability to hear noises. Restore an ability? It seems so.

But all is not perfect in the world of hearing assistance. Hearing aids add noise, stifle signals, and change the frequency content of the sound, which may alter the pattern of the evoked neural response. Put another way, hearing aids may alter how the brain interprets sound, especially in people who have become acclimated to hearing loss. For people with severe or chronic hearing loss, this effect can be quite noticeable.

These aids, however, are a crucial tool for those with hearing loss, despite these possible drawbacks. They may lessen feelings of loneliness and social isolation, which in turn may lessen the risk of cognitive impairment. Moreover, wearing hearing aids helps keep people involved in activities that require good hearing and maintain their capacity to communicate with others.

Once the FDA approved the availability of over-the-counter hearing aid devices, these units became an item that was more affordable for many. Some tests comparing aids fitted by audiologists and those bought in stores have not shown significant differences in fitting or performance. Therefore, the world of better hearing may be as close as your nearest mall or Costco.

The advantages of better hearing definitely outweigh any potential drawbacks, notwithstanding the possibility that hearing aids may cause some changes in how the brain perceives sound.