Last night, the Apex Lions Club had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Rachel Marston of Audiology of Apex as our guest speaker. We first met Dr. Marston during the Apex Night Out and Touch a Truck event last year, where her booth on hearing health was right next to our vision screening station—a fitting coincidence, since both vision and hearing are vital to living life to the fullest!
Dr. Marston’s presentation, “Why I Care About Your Hearing (And You Should Too),” was packed with eye-opening insights about the hidden impacts of hearing loss. Did you know that over half of adults aged 75 and older experience disabling hearing loss, and that it takes most people an average of seven years to seek help after noticing symptoms?
But it’s not just about hearing—it’s about brain health, memory, mood, and connection. She shared that untreated hearing loss is linked to social isolation and depression, and even mild loss can affect your working memory. One study (ACHIEVE) showed that hearing interventions actually slowed cognitive decline by 48% over three years. That’s powerful stuff.
Dr. Marston also walked us through common early signs of hearing loss, such as struggling to follow conversations in restaurants or noticing a constant ringing in the ears (tinnitus). One especially fascinating point: people with hearing loss often begin to rely more heavily on lip-reading, and MRI scans have even shown stronger neural pathways between the eyes and language centers in their brain as a result. She even demonstrated this “McGurk Effect” by showing us a video of a man saying a word and without changing the audio (only changing the video) we “heard” a different word because our eyes were automatically telling our brain to hear it differently because of the way his lips moved! That was quite astonishing, actually!
The big takeaway? Don’t wait. Get tested. And if hearing aids are recommended, know that they’re not a weakness—they’re a powerful tool for staying engaged, connected, and sharp.
We’re grateful to Dr. Marston for her passionate, informative talk and for her continued commitment to serving our community.
If you’re reading this and feel inspired by our mission to serve others—whether it’s providing free eye screenings, promoting hearing health, or supporting local families—we’d love to have you join us. The Apex Lions Club is always looking for caring people who want to make a difference right here in our own backyard.
Come serve with us. Let’s build a better, healthier, more connected community—together.
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