Eargym: Bringing The Focus Back To Hearing Health

Caroline Masterton 
Employee Benefits Director 

At Parallel, we’re always exploring new ways to support our clients and their people in living healthier, more balanced lives, and that means looking beyond the expected. When we think about employee benefits, we often focus on the tangible elements: private medical, dental care, mental health support. But sometimes the most important areas of wellbeing are the ones we don’t see or hear.

That’s why I’m really pleased to welcome our friends at Medicash to talk about an area that’s too often overlooked in the workplace: hearing health – not just as a clinical concern, but as a key component of effective communication, productivity, and overall wellbeing at work.

Over to the team at Medicash to tell you more…

When we think about self-care and wellbeing, we can all too often end up focusing on external factors and visible problems, but just as important are the aspects of our health & wellbeing that we don’t see, such as our sense of hearing. You might be surprised to learn that 1 in 6 working-age adults in the UK suffer from hearing loss and the impact that hearing loss can have on somebody’s life can not be understated. The ability to effectively communicate can suffer, which in a work environment can make everyday tasks more difficult than they need to be, and this can bring about a reduction in morale and even affect productivity.

It is tempting to think of the ears as being the most important component of the hearing process, but while they collect the sounds around us, it is in the brain where auditory signals are processed, and it is here where we can make attempts to improve our hearing skills. 

That’s where eargym comes in. It is a revolutionary new digital hearing health tool, which is accessible directly within the Medicash app, that employs games and exercises designed to reinforce the way we process sound. The core scientific principle underpinning eargym‘s approach lies in the neuroplasticity of the auditory system. This refers to the brain’s remarkable ability to build and adapt by forming new neural connections throughout a person’s life. Just as physical exercise strengthens muscles, targeted auditory training can strengthen the neural pathways involved in processing sound.

Studies have shown up to a 20% improvement in listening performance within seven weeks with regular training. Furthermore, a significant majority of participants (83%) felt their hearing skills improved, and 68% reported better ability to hear conversations in noisy environments.

eargym ‘s training exercises, such as the “busy barista” and sound-seeking games, are designed to simulate real-world listening environments. This is crucial because one of the primary challenges faced by individuals with early-stage hearing loss is the difficulty in understanding speech amidst background noise.

By being able to access the eargym platform, workforce members have the tools they need to make real improvements to their hearing. This empowers them to take control of their hearing health in a whole new way that can have tangible benefits. 

Given that hearing has become something of a forgotten sense in the world of health strategies, eargymprovides some much-needed focus on all things auditory. By adding hearing care into an employee wellbeing programme, Medicash are ensuring that they can offer a holistic approach to wellbeing that covers all aspects of good health and supports employees across the spectrum of health areas.

Final thoughts…

Whether you’re building out a holistic wellbeing strategy or simply curious about what’s next in preventative care, this is a brilliant example of how we can do more to look after our people. For more information please don’t hesitate to don’t hesitate to get in touch with me – contact caroline.masterton@parallel-eb.co.uk // 020 8874 1230