Sleep

Yes. Hearing problems can affect our quality of sleep and sleep problems can also affect our hearing ability. People with hearing loss can have increased stress and anxiety levels during the day, affecting how well they sleep. Hearing loss can also change how much time we spend in the different levels of sleep. This means a person with hearing loss spends more time in the lighter levels of sleep, waking more often during the night, and finding it more difficult to get back to sleep.

It can do. Research shows that for people with hearing loss or tinnitus (ringing/buzzing noises in ears) wearing hearing aids during the day has been shown to improve the quality of their sleep.

Zarenoe, R., Hallgren, M., Andersson, G., & Ledin, T. (2017). Working memory, sleep, and hearing problems in patients with tinnitus and hearing loss fitted with hearing aids. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 28(2):141–151.

Sleep is an essential part of health. Poor sleep can affect our physical, mental and social well-being. We know that sleep helps support our memory and ability to learn and it helps clear waste from the brain and promotes brain health. Sleep helps the immune system to clear bacteria and viruses, and it helps to recycle old cells and maintain our body and our energy levels. People with hearing loss are more likely to report poorer sleep quality than those without hearing loss. They’re also more likely to report daytime sleepiness, more frequent awakenings, and have more difficulty getting back to sleep. People with tinnitus are also more likely to report poorer sleep quality.

It can. Sleep apnoea affects your blood oxygen levels, which over time can also affect your hearing: people with even moderate sleep apnoea are more likely to have poorer high-pitched hearing, which can make it more difficult to understand speech when there is other noise around.

The quality of our sleep can affect our hearing; and our hearing can affect the quality of our sleep. There are three main factors that influence quality of sleep. 

The first is DURATION. We need to have enough sleep so that we are rested and alert the next day. We also need CONTINUITY in our sleep, which means good periods of sleep where we aren’t waking up or being woken up.  Finally, DEPTH: we need sleep that is deep enough to be restorative.

We generally advise people not to wear their hearing aids while sleeping. Hearing aids are delicate and could be damaged if worn during sleep. This is also the time of day when most people put their hearing aids in the charger. If there are safety concerns around hearing alarms while sleeping, please discuss this with your Resonate Audiologist as there are assistive devices that can be used to help.