How to Manage Listening Fatigue From Hearing Loss

Have you ever suffered substantial mental exhaustion? Maybe you felt this way after completing the SAT exam, or after finishing any examination or task that required rigorous concentration. It’s like running a marathon in your head—and when you’re finished, you just want to collapse.

A similar experience arises in those with hearing loss, and it’s known as listening or hearing fatigue. Those with hearing loss receive only partial or incomplete sounds, which they then have to make sense out of. In terms of comprehending speech, it’s like playing a persistent game of crosswords.

Those with hearing loss are provided with context and a few sounds and letters, but frequently they then have to fill in the blanks to decode what’s being said. Speech comprehension, which is intended to be natural and effortless, ends up being a problem-solving workout requiring deep concentration.

For example: C n ou r ad t is s nt e ce?

You most likely figured out that the random array of letters above spells “Can you read this sentence?” But you also probably had to stop and think it over, filling in the blanks. Imagine having to read this entire article this way and you’ll have an understanding for the listening demands placed on those with hearing loss.

The Personal Impact of Listening Fatigue

If speech comprehension becomes a laborious task, and socializing becomes fatiguing, what’s the likely consequence? People will start to avert communication situations entirely.

That’s exactly the reason we witness many people with hearing loss come to be much less active than they used to be. This can contribute to social isolation, lack of sound stimulation to the brain, and to the higher rates of cognitive decline that hearing loss is increasingly being linked with.

The Societal Consequence

Hearing loss is not exclusively fatiguing and frustrating for the individual: hearing loss has economic repercussions as well.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) estimates that the societal cost of severe to profound hearing loss in the US is approximately $300,000 per person over the course of each person’s life. Collectively, this amounts to billions of dollars, and according to the NCBI, most of the cost is attributable to decreased work efficiency.

Providing support to this claim, the Better Hearing Institute discovered that hearing loss negatively affected household income by an average of $12,000 per year. And, the more severe the hearing loss, the greater the impact it had on income.

Tips for Minimizing Listening Fatigue

Listening fatigue, therefore, has both high individual and societal costs. So what can be done to alleviate its effects? Here are some tips:

Wear Hearing aids – hearing aids help to “fill in the blanks,” thus avoiding listening fatigue. While hearing aids are not perfect, they also don’t have to be—crossword puzzles are a lot easier if all the letters are filled in with the exclusion of one or two.

Take occasional breaks from sound – If we try to run 10 miles all at once without a break, the majority of us will fail and stop trying. If we pace ourselves, taking routine breaks, we can cover 10 miles in a day fairly easily. When you have the opportunity, take a rest from sound, retreat to a tranquil area, or meditate.

Minimize background noise – bringing in background noise is like erasing the letters in a partly completed crossword puzzle. It drowns out speech, making it difficult to understand. Try to control background music, find quiet places to talk, and go for the less noisy areas of a restaurant.

Read as an alternative to watching TV – this isn’t terrible advice by itself, but for those with hearing loss, it’s even more relevant. After spending a day inundated by sound, give your ears a break and read a book.