It's Word Hearing Day on March 3rd, so we discover how data can help us avert a hearing health crisis.
Mar 1, 2024
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In this discussion, Amanda Philpott, CEO and co-founder of EarGym and a population health specialist, raises awareness about World Hearing Day and its alarming implications. She highlights the connection between hearing loss and dementia, emphasizing the urgency for early intervention. Amanda also shares insights on how listening habits are deteriorating hearing health, especially among younger people. The conversation delves into technological advances in hearing aids and the importance of maintaining hearing checks in our noisy world.
The podcast highlights the urgent need for greater awareness of hearing health due to its alarming link with cognitive decline, especially dementia.
EarGym's innovative approach transforms hearing care into an engaging experience, empowering users to track and improve their auditory health effectively.
Deep dives
Preventing Hearing Loss Through Engagement
The development of EarGym focuses on preventing hearing loss by creating an engaging and entertaining platform. This approach allows users to track their hearing health, cognitive function, and the progression of hearing loss over time. The concept emphasizes the importance of collecting data on hearing health as there is a concerning lack of information related to the correlation between hearing deterioration and cognitive impairment. By transforming hearing care into a more enjoyable experience, EarGym aims to contribute significantly to research addressing hearing loss-related issues.
The Link Between Hearing Loss and Dementia
Research indicates a direct correlation between hearing loss and an increased risk of dementia, highlighting hearing loss as a significant risk factor. Hearing loss can lead to social isolation, which further contributes to mild cognitive impairment and dementia symptoms. This relationship underscores the importance of regular hearing assessments, as most individuals neglect to have their hearing checked compared to other health screenings. The podcast emphasizes that with 40% of people over 50 having some form of hearing loss, addressing these issues is critical to overall cognitive health.
Challenges Surrounding Hearing Aid Usage
Many people avoid using hearing aids due to the stigma associated with aging and frailty. As most individuals are hesitant to wear hearing aids until they are considerably older, this significantly impacts their quality of life and social interactions. Moreover, hearing aids can be costly, creating an additional barrier to their usage for many individuals. This perception issue highlights the need to reframe how society views hearing aids and to promote early intervention for better overall health outcomes.
Improving Hearing Through Practices and Technology
While sensory neural hearing loss cannot be reversed, practicing listening skills can enhance auditory processing. Users can achieve improvements in their ability to comprehend sound by engaging in listening exercises designed to differentiate between competing sounds. Additionally, the introduction of innovative tools such as the EarGym app helps individuals assess their hearing and offers personalized training programs to strengthen auditory capabilities. This practice-based approach empowers users to take control of their hearing health, potentially increasing their auditory capacity significantly.
Today's guest is Amanda Philpott, CEO and cofounder of eargym. World Hearing Day is the 3rd of March. It's a day we need to pay greater attention to, because we're stumbling towards catastrophe. Listening habits are wrecking our hearing and leading to potentially huge healthy crises, especially as new research points to a correlation between hearing loss and Dementia.
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The music on Tech Talks is created by London artist Lemzi: www.lemzi.com
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