Listening fatigue occurs when too much strain is placed on the brain to decipher the sounds of what is being said throughout the day. People with hearing loss can become exhausted due to the constant effort required to strain themselves during conversations due to their limited hearing.
According to the Danish Institute for Social Research, around 15% of those with hearing loss feel exhausted when they end their day of work and lack the energy to pursue recreational activities.
Hearing loss can lead to the omission of 50% of speech. This requires the brain to fill out the blanks through the use of lip reading or even guesswork. This extra effort can make even having a simple conversation feel like hard work.
The Better Hearing Institute reported that $56 billion are lost in terms of productivity at work due to hearing loss. They further mentioned that this lost productivity is an outcome of listening fatigue. Hearing loss can also lead to higher attrition rates where people become too frustrated to continue working and quit their job altogether.
Luckily, it has been found that hearing aids can help in reducing the exhaustion caused by the constant strain in listening. Since hearing aids amplify sounds, you no longer need to strain in order to hear and can spend less energy on trying to figure out what is being said.