Who are those hearing aids for?

Hearing loss and/or deafness can hit us hard. Whilst some individuals are born with less than 100% hearing ability, some develop loss over the course of their lives. 

When hearing loss has been present from birth, from that moment onwards, ways of handling communication have been developing day by day.  Some individuals develop perfect lipreading skills, whilst some begin life with visual communication in the form of sign language(s).

Losing one’s hearing pre-lingually (we measure this as before the age of 18 months) means visual communication and understanding will be what feels right and comfortable.

Losing one’s hearing post-lingually (this is measured as after the age of 18 months when an understanding of sound and the spoken word have already become ‘the way to go’) is a different ball game. That individual has had no build-up to the visual side of things. So, all of a sudden, a method of replacing the hearing loss with something else becomes the challenge in hand.

That something else may be hearing aids.

Hearing aids have greatly improved over the many years that they have been available and, in today’s world, the hearing aid which sits behind the ear lobe may be flesh-coloured, allowing it to blend in with one’s skin colour. Even more recently, hearing aids fit inside the ear and can be removed by a stalk (think of a miniature bunch of grapes or a cherry and stalk). So easy and so invisible.

Way back, NHS hearing aids had their difficulties; standing next to someone eating a bag of crisps could prove excruciating for the hearing aid wearer. Today’s digital hearing aids are tuned into the individual’s needs regarding low frequency (i.e. some low-sounding letters of the alphabet may prove difficult to hear e.g. 'd' as in dog, 'b' as in bat, 'u' etc.) or high-frequency loss (e.g. 's' as in scissors, 't' as in tea, 'f' etc.). Life with hearing aids is much easier today than it was not so long ago in the past.

Yet there still lies a problem and this is in identifying the true need for hearing support.

The embarrassment that often comes with displaying your need as the wearer can prove overwhelming and some may feel less of a person for doing so. Over the first few days or weeks, discomfort may be felt as the aids rub against the skin and feel like a foreign body that needs to be removed.

By not wearing hearing aids, that person starts to cut themselves off from closeness, communication, integration and society. Going out with friends may feel like more trouble than it’s worth.  

That’s how it may be for a person with newly developed hearing loss.

Please persist as, in the case of hearing aids, those devices are not only for you.  If you’re in a relationship (married, mother and son, friend, work colleague and even with the general public), those individuals also need what those hearing aids offer.

For family and colleagues, the stress of repeating something two or three times, as well as hearing an answer which doesn’t fit the question asked, can prove overwhelming to them. Resorting to exaggerated facial expressions or writing information down feels good for neither partner in a communication. Shouting from room to room may not work anymore and so “it doesn’t matter” comes into play and general chatter breaks down.

People give up trying to involve the person with hearing loss, invite them to fewer functions, visit less often and don’t bother phoning. Communication has lost itself in that meaningful relationship and it’s not only the person needing the hearing aids who loses out. Unfortunately, new plans will emerge and new ways of being will form.

Hearing loss places many people outside of successful communication and it’s a very lonely place to be. Not only for the individual with hearing loss but for their persons of importance as well. Realising that all can benefit from those hearing aids is a win-win situation.