Better Health and Wellness Are All in Your Ears

We live in stressful times. As if everyday life weren’t challenging enough, the World Health Organization (WHO) now believes the pandemic made the prevalence of anxiety and depression much worse.

People with hearing loss are uniquely susceptible to such factors. Studies have shown a correlation between hearing loss and psychological distress (stress, anxiety, or depression). This is partly because hearing loss – which manifests itself in difficulty communicating with others – can cause social isolation. Sufferers avoid parties, informal gatherings, dinners out, and even work meetings because they have a hard time understanding what others are saying. And social isolation, in turn, can impact people’s psychological well-being. 

The good news is those same studies have also found that using hearing aids helps reduce distress and social isolation. These days, this is critical. At a time when personal well-being and quality of life are essential topics in healthcare, people with hearing loss need to understand their unique risks and the solutions that can help them not only hear better but feel better.

Stress from Hearing Loss Can be Pervasive

We’re talking about a potentially huge impact. The WHO also estimates that by 2050, nearly one in four people worldwide will experience some form of hearing loss. Furthermore, about 700 million will need access to hearing care. But those of us who provide that care understand that it’s about more than audio grams and sound amplification. It’s about the interconnected relationships among hearing health, physical health, psychological health, and social engagement. In a nutshell, hearing care is about overall well-being.

Well-being itself extends far beyond the absence of disease. It’s about how people perceive their lives. There is general agreement that, at a minimum, well-being is the presence of positive feelings. Examples include contentment, happiness, connectedness, and engagement. Well-being is also the absence of negative feelings like anxiety, stress, isolation, and helplessness. Good relationships and social participation are strong indicators of well-being. Also, high levels of well-being have been shown to fight physical illness.

For people with hearing loss, modern hearing aids promote well-being in two important ways. First, they address the risks of social isolation by making communication better. Not only through amplification, but also through advanced processing that makes voices sound more natural and filters out the ambient noise that makes engagement difficult. Second, advanced hearing aids are capable of delivering sound therapy at the same time they improve hearing. In other words, they are wellness devices as well as hearing care devices.

Photo by Mark Paton on Unsplash

Sound Therapy Through Fractal Tones

Sound therapy in Widex hearing aids is achieved through special, scientifically validated tones that are generated inside the hearing aids. Today’s hearing aids have powerful processors for amplification, filtering, and more. These same processors can create unique, algorithmically-generated fractal tones. This generates a type of musical stimulus, that is predictable but never repeated. As a result, the mind gets to focus more easily and benefits from the therapeutic properties. The goal is to create tones that conform to the musical characteristics the brain associates with relaxation while ensuring they’re always original and engaging.

Widex began this innovative approach to well-being more than a decade ago when it introduced Zen Therapy fractal tones to its hearing aids. After our studies showed that Zen Therapy was effective in treating tinnitus, the company expanded the program to include more fractals, better synchronization between ears, plus new modulated sound waves that have been rated highly by listeners for well-being, relaxation and concentration. This new solution is called Widex SoundRelax™. It’s intended to help wearers with and without tinnitus relax while boosting their concentration. 

Fractals exist all around us. Snowflakes, broccoli florets, cheetah spots — no two are alike. The same is true of fractal tones generated in hearing aids. Unlike regular music, which is predictable and generates an emotional response, fractal tones are music-like, unpredictable, and designed to target the relaxation response, not the emotional response. The addition of modulated sound waves, such as that of sea surf, furthers the calming effect. 

Highly Rated for Concentration and Relaxation

Key to fractal tones and modulated sound waves is their ability to promote relaxation and enhance concentration by keeping the information load low. They also have a relatively slow tempo, which helps to avoid elements that evoke strong emotions.

Lastly, they remain predictable without being repetitive. Again, this is a difference between fractals and traditional music: Music can also be relaxing but tends to attract the wearer’s concentration to itself rather than to its surroundings.

Early studies of the Widex SoundRelax model are very encouraging. Whether listeners have hearing loss or not, or experience tinnitus or not. Study participants highly rate the ability of fractal tones, modulating sound waves, or a combination of the two to promote relaxation, concentration, and overall well-being. Importantly, people report enthusiastically liking the therapeutic soundscapes that Widex SoundRelax generates. This may promote longer and more consistent use of the solution, which is encouraging not only from a well-being perspective, but also from a hearing health perspective.

Because ultimately, the myriad wellness devices we have in our lives — fitness trackers, health monitors, etc. — are only effective if people use them regularly. Hearing aids capable of sound therapy can be part of a holistic approach to the well-being we all seek these days. Their ability to overcome social isolation through better communication while directly promoting relaxation through fractal tones and modulating sound waves make such hearing aids unlike any other “wearable” available today. Through new technology, hearing better and living better will increasingly become one and the same.

Who is the author?

Dana Helmink

Dana Helmink, AuD is the senior director of audiology/clinical education at Widex US.