As a person with hearing loss, you need to work significantly harder to make sense of the hearing world because your mind and body get tired from countless listening attempts. This often happens if you’re not aware that the conversation was directed at you or someone else and that you may have missed verbal instructions or spent time worrying that you got the correct message on the telephone.

Listeners with hearing loss must engage in active listening and use “whole body listening” when communicating with friends, family, and coworkers in various communication settings. So, physical alertness and attention have to be maintained along with greater comprehension. It’s as if you need to invest more cognitive resources, or brainpower, into listening.

With the beginning of a new year, back-to-school stress, work/life balance, and other pressures, these influences can all negatively affect your mental fatigue. That’s why it’s so important to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. With adequate rest, you’ll begin to feel less drained.

It’s therefore safe to say that you may struggle less to hear in the morning when you are fresh than in the later afternoon and evening. Hearing loss can also put a strain on relationships, like having to ask a partner to repeat something at home, especially after asking co-workers all day. The result is frequent irritation and exhaustion from having to piece together a conversation and having to compromise.