TECH TALK
By Tak Sato
My column may feel more analog than digital this time because I’m sharing what I’ve learned while on my hard-of-hearing journey.
It’s been more than six years since I totally lost my hearing. The ear, nose and throat doctor diagnosed it as Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL), accompanied by vestibular disorder, that can affect balance and eye movement. The cause was unknown; he suggested I get evaluated for a cochlear implant (CI).
I asked him if the timing of the surgery mattered — and more importantly — whether the surgery could exacerbate my vestibular disorder. Whether I had CI surgery right away or years later, the outcome would be the same, the doctor said. He never discussed the risks of waiting.
Being a geek, I combed the internet for answers. A good friend finally convinced me to seek a second opinion after seeing me get nowhere after more than a year. I sought a second opinion from my hospital’s Division Chief of Otology and Neurotology, who not only reviewed the risks but also performed my CI surgery. I could hear again after 14 months of living in silence.
Hard of Hearing (HoH) is on a spectrum, with mild hearing loss on one end and total hearing loss on the other. I came to understand that HoH is a fact of life that accompanies aging, and the correlation is unavoidable. HoH can progress slowly or hit like a Mac truck, as mine did.
Hearing Loss Risks
When helping older adults with digital literacy, I’ve observed that some people won’t deal with being HoH. They refuse to get tested by an audiologist and don’t want to wear a hearing aid because of the perceived stigma it carries, among other excuses.
From my surgeon, my wife and I learned something profound about HoH that makes the above banter superficial. Hearing loss carries hidden risks. If left unaddressed, it can lead to cognitive decline, including memory loss and the chance of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s. HoH can also affect social relationships, ultimately leading to loneliness and self-induced isolation.
Addressing HoH promptly doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t succumb to some or all the above. However, study after study finds that addressing HoH promptly can help delay the onset, slow down the progress, or even reduce the risk of cognitive decline. In retrospect, learning that timing does affect the outcome after all, put a cloud over what the ENT told us about when I was initially diagnosed.
Our senses — like hearing and seeing — feed signals to the brain. When parts of the brain responsible for processing those signals receive weak signals, the brain works extra hard to understand those signals. This strains the brain, taking away brain cells from other brainy functions.
It’s all systemic. When I became deaf, my stamina and productivity dropped significantly. Although I never paid much attention in grade school science classes, I did remember that the inner ear sends two distinct signals to the brain: one for audio and the other for balance. My theory for stamina loss was that my inner ear is sending bad signals or no signal to the brain, while my lone working eye — I lost the other eye 35 years ago — is working triple duty to compensate for both my other eye and my malfunctioning inner ear’s gyroscopic duties. Both my brain and stamina suffered.
I am sharing this because addressing hearing challenges early on is vital for preserving your overall well-being as you age.
As an aside, accessibility features like Live Caption (Apple) and apps like Live Transcribe (Android), and downloadable speech-to-text apps can augment comprehension of spoken words for people with HoH, including those with cochlear implants and hearing aids. They’ve helped our family cope with my HoH.
There, we are back to the digital side of my column and soon I’ll get ready for the November 2026 holiday issue.
