Hearing loss is not just earmarked for missing out on conversations. A recent study found that older adults with hearing loss were 36 percent more likely to have prolonged stretches of illness or injury that lasted more than 10 days. They were also 57 percent more likely to have deep episodes of stress, depression or bad mood lasting more than 10 days.

“Hearing loss may have a profoundly detrimental effect on older people’s physical and mental well-being, and even health care resources,” said senior study investigator, Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D. Lin is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. According to Lin, two-thirds of men and women aged 70 years and older suffer from some form of hearing loss. Hearing loss, he said can lead to social isolation. This may explain the physical and mental declines — as well as the cognitive deficits — that affect older adults.