Hearing Exhaustion

Feeling tired but not sure why? It’s possible your hearing is playing a role. Even on our best days, it takes a lot of cognitive effort to hear and listen. If you have a hearing loss, particularly if it’s untreated, this effort skyrockets and can leave you feeling fatigued early in the day.

Most of the time we don’t think too much about the effort we place on hearing and listening – it’s something that comes naturally and we’ve learned how to focus our attention when someone speaks. However, there is a complex series of neural transmissions that make it possible to assign meaning to what we hear. Even a mild hearing loss can cause those transmissions to can get misaligned, placing a greater emphasis on your cognition to translate messages and requires significantly more neural resources to understand speech.

This additional effort often leaves the listener exhausted and depletes cognitive resources needed for other activities throughout the day. Although hearing exhaustion is not a medical term, it is a common side effect of hearing loss and an important symptom to pay attention to. If you have any concerns about your hearing, especially if you are feeling unnaturally fatigued, it’s time for a hearing test. Talk to your audiologist today to learn more and get the help you need.