Why some people with hearing loss feel like a tuckered-out cat at the end of the day

Why some people with hearing loss feel like a tuckered-out cat at the end of the day: According to Pichora-Fuller et al. (2016), listeners with hearing loss "expend more mental effort to direct attention to and concentrate on... comprehending, remembering, and responding to [speech]…." And as a result, "they may experience fatigue and/or decide to quit the task at hand to avoid becoming fatigued." To counteract hearing-related cognitive fatigue: • “Chill out” with quiet time every day at about the same time of day, limiting verbal input, even reading, for about 20 minutes. • If warranted, use appropriately fitted hearing aids, ideally with noise reduction circuitry. • Engage in auditory brain training (e.g., Sommers et al., 2015). Ears train the brain
clEAR Auditory Brain Training

Eat Well, Hear Well

Women who follow a Mediterranean diet are less likely to incur hearing loss than women who do not, according to a study conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Curhan et al., 2018). Participants: 81,818 women Study Design: A longitudinal cohort study from 1991-2013 Diet types studied: 1) Alternative Mediterranean Diet (AMED); 2) Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH); and 3) Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010) Findings: The more closely a woman followed the AMED, the less likely she was to incur a hearing loss; in fact, her risk factor decreased by 30%. Conclusions: Enjoy the following---vegetables (except potatoes, sigh), fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, extra virgin olive oil, fish, and vino (!!—in moderation, of course). If you know a woman who hasn’t followed the AMED and may now have hearing loss, there’s help available.
Ears Train the Brain:
clEAR Auditory Brain Training

Veterans and Hearing Loss

Here are a few facts about Veterans and hearing loss:

• Over one million veterans receive compensation for hearing loss.
• The most common kind of hearing loss among veterans is noise-induced hearing loss, resulting from exposure to explosives or engine noise.  Veterans with this kind of hearing loss have a hard time hearing when there is background noise present, as in a noisy restaurant.
• Even if they score normally on a hearing test, many veterans experience difficulty understanding speech, a condition called "central auditory processing disorder."

clEAR has a customized lesson plan that provides auditory brain training specifically designed to enhance listening in noise and another plan that is specifically designed for those who suffer from central auditory processing disorder.

The clEAR auditory brain training games and other resources for Veterans can be found at these websites:

The Hearing Loss Association of American
Veterans' Health Council
clEAR Auditory Brain Training

Be proactive and let:  Ears Train the Brain