Trouble Hearing in Noisy Places? Train Your Brain

Do you struggle to hear in noisy places like at the office, at family dinners, or out for drinks with friends? Hearing loss affects one in five Americans of all ages, and makes it hard to hear, especially in places with a lot of background noise. Even with hearing aids, some situations can particularly challenging, and leave you exhausted by the end of the night. We don’t want you to choose to stay home rather than enjoy your time with friends, and exciting new research might point the way to a new treatment option. If you’d like to hear clearly in noise, training your brain could help you hear in any listening environment.

Researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear have been studying brain training as a way to improve your ability to hear clearly in noise. They’ve developed a computer game that can improve your ability to hear speech sounds in noisy situations. Not only are these games fun, but they help your brain make sense of the sounds around you when you find yourself in crowded places. Researchers recognize the potential of brain training to treat hearing loss, and think brain training might soon become a part of the recommended hearing loss treatment.

The study at Massachusetts Eye and Ear had participants train their brains for 8 weeks to test the effectiveness of brain training on improving listening ability in noise. They played a computer game that asked them to detect small changes in sounds. Correctly answering allowed them to add pieces to complete a jigsaw puzzle in the game. The study showed that those who participated in this brain training could hear 25% more words in the presence of background noise than those who hadn’t had brain training.

We often think that hearing happens in the ear, but the truth is the brain has a huge role to play in hearing. The brain takes all the signals it receives from the ears, and turns them into the words we hear and understand. If the ears can’t hear all the sounds around you, you’ll have hearing loss, but if your brain has trouble interpreting the sounds, you’ll also struggle to hear. That’s why training the brain can help you hear better. Through training, neural connections that recognize sounds are strengthened, so you’re able to hear and differentiate more sounds.

This process, called neuroplasticity, can help the brain hear, but can also rob you of the ability to hear certain sounds. When you live with untreated hearing loss, all the pathways you aren’t using to hear can get reassigned to other senses, like vision or touch. This means that even when you get a hearing aid, there may be some sounds you’ll never hear again. This reassignment will leave you more at risk of developing dementia or Alzheimer’s and is another reason it’s important to treat your hearing loss early, and keep your brain in shape through training.

The best thing you can do for your hearing is to schedule annual hearing tests, and get a hearing aid as soon as you find yourself struggling to hear. Getting a hearing aid will lead to a higher quality of life, better communication, stronger relationships, and greater health and wellbeing. There are also a few brain training programs available for those who want to give it a try, such as LACE (Listening and Communication Enhancement), or clEARWorks, programs designed to enhance your ability to recognize speech sounds in noisy listening environments.

If you’re struggling to hear, brain training may soon become a reality! Until then, visit us at the closest My Hearing Centers location for a hearing assessment. We have hearing aids that can assist you in even the most complex listening environments, and help you hear no matter where you are.

Our wide range of hearing aids from the world’s top manufactures feature advanced programs designed to enhance speech, help you focus on what you want to hear, and reduce background noise, that can make a huge difference everywhere you go. Don’t let your hearing loss keep you from going to the places you love, but invest in your hearing and your happiness with hearing aids designed to help you hear in noise.