When you’re a youngster, falling is just a part of life. Taking a spill on your bicycle? That’s normal. Getting tripped up when sprinting across the yard. Happens all of the time. It’s not really a concern because, well, kids are pretty limber. They don’t usually stay down for very long.

As you get older though, that becomes less and less true. The older you get, the more concerning a fall can be. In part, that’s because your bones generally break more easily (and heal slower). Older people tend to spend more time on the floor in pain because they have a more difficult time getting back up. As a result, falls are the number one injury-connected cause of death in individuals older than 65.

It’s not surprising, then, that healthcare professionals are always on the lookout for tools and devices that can lessen falls. Hearing aids might be just such a device according to research.

Can hearing loss lead to falls?

In order to figure out why hearing aids can help prevent falls, it helps to ask a related question: does hearing loss make a fall more likely to begin with? It seems as if the answer may be, yes.

So the question is, why would the risk of falling be raised by hearing loss?

That association isn’t exactly intuitive. After all, hearing loss doesn’t directly impact your ability to move or see. But this type of direct impact on your mobility, and an increased risk of falling, can be a consequence of some hearing loss symptoms. Some of those symptoms include:

Exhaustion: When you’re dealing with neglected hearing loss, your ears are constantly straining, and your brain is always working overtime. Your brain will be constantly exhausted as a consequence. An alert brain will notice and steer clear of obstacles, which will reduce the risk of having a fall.
Loss of balance: How can hearing loss impact your balance? Well, your overall balance depends heavily on your inner ear. So you may find yourself dizzy, experience vertigo, and lose your balance when hearing loss affects the inner ear. Because of this, you could fall down more frequently.
You’re unable to hear high-frequency sounds: You know how when you walk into an auditorium, you immediately detect that you’re in a spacious venue, even if your eyes are closed? Or how you can immediately detect that you’re in a small space when you get into a vehicle. Your ears are actually utilizing something similar to “echolocation” and high-frequency sound to help your spatial awareness. You will lose the ability to quickly make those assessments when hearing loss causes you to lose those high-frequency tones. Loss of situational awareness and disorientation can be the consequences.
Depression: Neglected hearing loss can cause social solitude and depression (and also an increased danger of dementia). When you’re socially separated, you may be more likely to stay at home, where tripping hazards are everywhere, and be less likely to have help nearby.
Your situational awareness is impaired: When you have untreated hearing loss, you may not be as able to hear that approaching vehicle, or the dog barking next to you, or the sound of your neighbor’s footsteps. Your situational awareness could be substantially affected, in other words. Can you become clumsy like this due to hearing loss? Well, in a way yes, daily activities can become more dangerous if your situational awareness is compromised. And that means you could be slightly more likely to accidentally stumble into something, and take a fall.

Part of the connection between falling and hearing loss is also in your age. As you get older, you’re more likely to experience permanent and progressive hearing loss. That will raise the chance of falling. And when you’re older, falling can have much more serious consequences.

How can the risk of falling be lowered by using hearing aids?

It makes sense that hearing aids would be part of the solution when hearing loss is the problem. And this is being confirmed by new research. One recent study found that wearing hearing aids could cut your chance of a fall in half.

The relationship between remaining on your feet and hearing loss wasn’t always this evident. That’s to some extent because individuals often fail to use their hearing aids. As a consequence, falls among “hearing aid users” were often inconclusive. This was because individuals weren’t wearing their hearing aids, not because their hearing aids were broken.

The method of this study was carried out differently and perhaps more precisely. People who wore their hearing aids often were classified into a different group than those who used them occasionally.

So why does wearing your hearing aids help you prevent falls? Generally speaking, they keep you more vigilant, more concentrated, and less fatigued. The increased situational awareness also helped. In addition, many hearing aids have safety features designed to trigger in the case of a fall. This can mean you get help faster (this is crucial for individuals 65 or older).

But the key here is to be certain you’re using your hearing aids often and regularly.