What Is Listening Fatigue

Listening fatigue is a very real occurrence for many people, which affects both physical and cognitive areas. Listening fatigue comes from the extra amount of concentration used when following along with a conversation. Continuous listening takes a lot of attention and energy.  People tend to strain their brains whenever exerting a lot of effort and energy toward one thing. This is even more exemplified for people with hearing loss.

That’s why understanding and treating listening fatigue for people with hearing loss could be life-changing.

How Does Listening Make You Tired?

When experiencing hearing loss, the brain compensates by working harder to process cognitive information. This causes stress on the brain and eventually fatigue. As someone uses their energy throughout the day for listening, their ability to perform other tasks or activities can be weakened.

How Do You Fight Listening Fatigue?

Depending on your hearing health, there are multiple ways to combat listening fatigue.

• Take a break from all the noise. Go somewhere with little to no background noise to help you relax. Deep breathing while closing your eyes can help alleviate stress, as well. Taking time for yourself can help rejuvenate your body and brain for future activities.  
• Personal hearing aids can alleviate fatigue by helping restore the sounds that people are missing, causing the brain to use less energy during conversations. The latest hearing aids come with features that can reduce fatigue by isolating and amplifying the sounds you want to hear and reducing undesirable noises or sounds.

For some, it may seem impossible to have any energy in the evening after a busy day. After listening to conversations, outdoor and indoor noises for hours, it takes a toll on your body and brain. Luckily there are options you can take to help regain that drive by fighting against listening fatigue.

Learn more about how talking on the phone positively affects your mental health.