2025 is a great year to take control of your hearing health. If you haven’t done it yet, don’t worry—the perfect day to start is upon us: this Monday, March 3—World Hearing Day.
World Hearing Day 2025 is about empowering ourselves to “ensure healthy ears and hearing" for ourselves and for others. This involves protecting hearing and treating any hearing loss.
After all, our hearing health directly affects our overall health and quality of life.
So, when we experience better hearing by wearing hearing aids, we are simultaneously:
- Maintaining our brain health: Research has proven that wearing hearing aids can reduce our risk of cognitive decline and hearing loss is the number one modifiable risk factor found to prevent dementia.
- Reducing loneliness, isolation, and depression: Thanks to the communication support of hearing aids, we can benefit from a reduced risk of depression and social isolation.
- Preventing falls and other hazards: Giving us greater awareness of surroundings through better hearing, hearing aids can reduce our risk of falls.
- Lengthening our lives: Research concurs that hearing aids may help us live nearly 25% longer.
And the list goes on.
Regardless of all the advantages to treating hearing loss, it isn’t uncommon for people to hold back from doing so. One of the most common reasons is stigma, which Merriam-Webster defines as “a set of negative and unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something.” In this case, that “something” is hearing aids.
For this reason, World Hearing Day 2025 will expand upon last year’s theme of “changing mindsets”—or addressing the misconceptions and stigmatizing mindsets related to hearing aids.
But why wait until March 3 to disprove hearing aid stigma when we can start today?
Growing proof that hearing aid stigma is a thing of the past
For people with hearing loss, stigma may entail the fear of being perceived as less capable or “old” if they are seen wearing hearing aids. They may also construe hearing technology as the big, cumbersome, tan-hued devices people wore in the distant past.
Well, guess what? Nothing could be further from the truth, and here’s why:
Better hearing has never looked so good
Gone are the bulky, skin-colored, ill-fitting instruments of the past: Today’s hearing aids, like the many cool digital innovations (e.g. smartphones, laptops, GPS) that enhance our daily lives, are now sleek, stylish, and seamless.
Nothing says style, sophistication, and personalization like our latest hearing aids, Edge AI and Signature Series: Discover standard hearing aids that are ultra sleek and subtle, and custom hearing aids that are even more unassuming because they are molded to fit inside our individual ear canal. Some customs, in fact, are virtually invisible to the human eye.
Bottom line—we now have hearing aid choices that satisfy our personal preferences and comfort level.
Now hear this: Hearing aids are techno-gadgets
Hearing aids have shot up the ranks as cool, wearable tech devices—thanks to their ability to do much more than just amplify sound. Besides hearing sound more clearly and true-to-life, Edge AI hearing aids give us much more control over our hearing. For example, we can easily turn up sounds we want to hear and diminish sounds we don’t.
Moreover, we can do everything from stream phone calls, music, and TV audio straight to our hearing aids, to using our devices as personal fitness trackers: We can count our steps and track our physical activity, plus monitor our hearing engagement, social activity, and falls—simply by connecting our hearing aids with the My Starkey app.
Wellness is the way to go—with hearing aids
People are living longer, and one reason why is because they are being more proactive with their overall health—everything from joining exercise classes to wearing fitness trackers to eating healthy.
By adding hearing aids to our health regimen, we can benefit from:
- Getting out and connecting: The improved ability to hear and communicate can make it easier to engage with the world around us: What better reason to get out, socialize, and maintain our connections to the people and activities that matter to us?
And talk about long-term benefits: Keeping social isolation and loneliness at bay is central to sustaining our well-being as we age by reducing our risk of depression, anxiety, and dementia.
- Being more physically active: Whether we’re gardening or jogging, wearing hearing aids can lessen our chances of tripping or falling. Not only can better hearing help us maintain awareness of our surroundings as mentioned earlier, but it can also improve our balance, according to research.
(And don’t forget—Edge AI hearing aids allow us to track our fitness activity, plus set activity goals and tap into encouraging insights based on our progress. They can even help us assess our balance. Learn more here.)
So in the end, we not only will be able to hear better, but also live longer, happier lives—without missing a moment. All by empowering ourselves to treat our hearing loss through hearing aids.
For more on combatting stigma with the help of hearing technology, listen to what wearers of our latest hearing aids have to say. (For more videos like this, subscribe to the Starkey Hearing YouTube Channel):
Take control of your hearing health—see a hearing care professional
To quote one of our favorite inspirational speakers and Starkey hearing aid wearers, Justin Osmond: “I may have a hearing loss, but my hearing loss does not have me.” That’s what empowering ourselves to treat our hearing loss on World Hearing Day is all about—not letting hearing loss take away one more moment of living our best lives.
So, don’t wait. Make an appointment with a licensed hearing care professional for a hearing evaluation.
If it turns out you do have hearing loss, they can consult with you about your options, demo the latest hearing aid technology, and help you find the best solution for your individual needs. Simply type your zip code in here and you’ll find a list of providers hear you.