"Our participation in American Heart Month and National Wear Read Day?® enables the hearing health community to make an important contribution to saving millions of lives," says Kochkin. "This is an opportunity to highlight the connection that heart health has on hearing health and to empower people with that knowledge. People with heart disease should not have to contend with the additional toll that unaddressed hearing loss takes on their quality of life."

More About Heart Disease

According to the NHLBI, family history of early heart disease and age are two key risk factors for heart disease. Controllable risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, and diabetes.

The NHLBI says that the main warning signs for women and men are:

Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes. It may feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. The discomfort may be mild or severe, and it may come and go.Discomfort in other areas of the upper body, including one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach.Shortness of breath. This may occur with or without chest discomfort.Other signs include nausea, light-headedness, or breaking out in a cold sweat.

More About Hearing Loss

Numerous studies have linked untreated hearing loss to a wide range of physical and emotional conditions, including impaired memory and ability to learn new tasks, reduced alertness, increased risk to personal safety, irritability, negativism, anger, fatigue, tension, stress, depression, and diminished psychological and overall health. But nine out of ten hearing aid users report improvements in their quality of life.

SOURCE Better Hearing Institute