Why a Viral Brain Surgeon Wants You to Check Your Hearing
Why a Viral Brain Surgeon Wants You to Check Your Hearing
Dr. Betsy Grunch is a wildly popular neurosurgeon known on social media as “Lady Spine Doc.” Recently, she posted a video that stopped us in our tracks. She’s known for breaking down things like spine surgery, back pain, and complex neurological topics in a way people can easily understand. But this time, she wasn’t talking about the spine… she was talking about ears.
As your local audiologists at Perth Hearing & Tinnitus Clinic here in Perth, we couldn’t be happier to see a neurosurgeon with her massive reach talking about hearing loss and brain health. This connection is one of the most important (and often misunderstood) topics in healthcare.
The Ear-Brain Connection
Most people think hearing just happens in the ears. But audiologists like ourselves have been saying for decades: you don’t hear with your ears, you hear with your brain. The ears are simply there to collect sound. The brain is the computer that decodes that sound, separates all the background noise, and helps you make sense of the world.
In the video, Dr. Grunch explains that when the brain isn’t getting clear sound signals, it has to work much harder to fill in the gaps. And major medical organisations agree with her. The Lancet Dementia Commission, one of the most respected research groups in the world, recently identified untreated hearing loss in mid-life as the number one potentially modifiable risk factor for dementia (a risk factor you have the power to change).
Think about it this way: you can’t change your age, you can’t change your genetics, but you can change hearing loss. And it’s worth it to do so. Researchers estimate that by eliminating mid-life hearing loss, we could potentially prevent or delay up to 7% of dementia cases globally. That’s millions of people who could maintain their cognitive health longer just by addressing hearing loss early!
The “Cognitive Load” Problem
So why does untreated hearing loss increase dementia risk? It all comes down to cognitive load, which is the amount of mental effort your brain uses to understand speech.
When you can’t hear well, your brain has to:
- Guess to fill in missing words
- Decode muffled or distorted sounds
- Work overtime to follow conversations
This constant mental effort pulls energy away from other critical brain functions like memory, comprehension, and focus. Over time, the brain becomes exhausted. Not only that, when the brain stops receiving clear sound signals, the auditory pathways can start to shrink. This is called atrophy, and it’s similar to what happens when a muscle isn’t used. The longer hearing loss goes untreated, the harder it is for the brain to bounce back.
Hearing Aids are Physical Therapy for Your Brain
There are many people who still want to avoid hearing aids. But modern hearing aids are nothing like the bulky devices we used to have to live with. They’re small, smart, and designed to support brain health. They’re like physical therapy for your brain!
At Perth Hearing & Tinnitus Clinic, the biggest mistake we see is clients waiting 7 to 10 years before seeking help for their hearing loss. They just keep telling themselves that their hearing “isn’t that bad yet,” or they’re too worried about the stigma of hearing aids.
But when it comes to the brain, early intervention is everything. The longer hearing loss goes untreated, the more strain the brain experiences and the harder it is to recover those damaged pathways. We promise you will not regret taking this step!
Your ears matter, your brain matters even more!
If you or a loved one are struggling to follow conversations, especially in noisy environments, let’s chat. Give us a call at 08 9242 2208 to schedule a comprehensive hearing evaluation with our team today.
Beyond Hearing Aids: Training Your Brain to Hear Better
As part of our commitment to supporting both hearing and cognitive health, we’re excited to now offer Neurotone AI to our patients.
Neurotone AI is an innovative auditory training program designed to help retrain the brain to better process speech, particularly in challenging listening environments such as restaurants, meetings and social gatherings. By strengthening the brain’s ability to interpret sound, Neurotone AI complements hearing technology and may help reduce the cognitive effort required to understand speech.
Whether you’re experiencing hearing loss, finding it difficult to follow conversations in background noise, or simply want to optimise your listening abilities, Neurotone AI provides another evidence-informed tool to support your hearing journey.
Ask our team whether Neurotone AI could be the right solution for you at your next appointment.
