Women Who Address Hearing Loss Enjoy Better Quality of Life, BHI Advises

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Addressing hearing loss helps women stay physically, cognitively, and socially active, the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) advised today as part of its outreach in recognition of National Women's Health Week. Research shows that hearing loss is frequently associated with other physical, mental, and emotional health conditions, and that women who address their hearing loss often experience better quality of life.

BHI is urging women of all ages to take the free, quick, and confidential online BHI Hearing Check at www.hearingcheck.org during National Women's Health Week. Anyone can take the online survey to determine if they need a comprehensive hearing test by a hearing healthcare professional.

BHI supports National Women's Health Week, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health. The 14th annual National Women's Health Week kicks off on Mother's Day, May 12, 2013 and goes until May 18. National Women's Checkup Day is Monday, May 13, 2013. May is Better Hearing and Speech Month.

For the vast majority of people with hearing loss there are solutions that help. And modern hearing aids are among them. Eight out of 10 hearing aid users, in fact, say they're satisfied with the changes that have occurred in their lives specifically due to their hearing aids. From how they feel about themselves to the positive changes they see in their relationships, social interactions, and work lives, hearing aid users are reaping the benefits of today's technology.

When people with even mild hearing loss use hearing aids, they improve their job performance; enhance their communication skills; increase their earnings potential; improve their professional and interpersonal relationships; stave off depression; gain an enhanced sense of control over their lives; and better their quality of life.

But when left unaddressed, hearing loss interferes with a woman's life and negatively affects virtually every aspect of her day-to-day living -- including how she communicates with her doctor. And because hearing loss has been linked to several chronic diseases -- as well as to an increased risk of falling -- it's important that women and their healthcare providers routinely address hearing health as part of their medical care. Millions of women in America suffer from unaddressed hearing loss. Most are still in the workforce.

Studies show that people with heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, and depression may all have an increased risk of hearing loss. When left untreated, hearing loss also can lead to a wide range of physical and emotional conditions. Impaired memory and the impaired ability to learn new tasks, reduced alertness, increased risk to personal safety, irritability, negativism, anger, fatigue, tension, and stress are among its more common side effects.

As part of its efforts to promote National Women's Health Week, BHI is encouraging hearing healthcare professionals across the country to organize hearing screenings in their communities; host health fairs; disseminate women's health information; and publicize National Women's Health Week.

For more information on National Women's Health Week, visit http://www.womenshealth.gov/nwhw/.  For more information on hearing loss, visit www.betterhearing.org. To take the BHI Hearing Check, visit www.hearingcheck.org.

More About Hearing Aids

Today's hearing aids combine high-performance technology and style with durability and ease-of-use, transcending the old-world notion that a condition as common as hearing loss is something to hide. The options are so varied that there is an attractive solution for just about anyone. Designers offer styles that appeal to the fashion conscious, the trendsetter, the partygoer, the intellectual, the active sports enthusiast, the cautious grandmother, the romantic, the weekend warrior, and even those just tired of arguing about the volume on the TV.

Whether they sit discreetly inside your ear canal, or wrap aesthetically around the contour of your outer ear like the latest fashion accessory, today's high-performance hearing aids amplify life. They unabashedly send the message: "I'm too young and full of life to stop doing the things I love best." In fact, today's hearing aids are the #1 Must-Have Consumer Electronic for enhancing life in 2013.

For a step-by-step breakdown of what to expect, ask, and look for when visiting a hearing healthcare professional and purchasing a hearing aid, download Your Guide to Buying Hearing Aidsat www.BetterHearing.org, under publications.

Media Contact:
Better Hearing Institute (BHI)
[email protected]

SOURCE Better Hearing Institute