Lets face it; no one wants a hearing aid.

It’s true. But no one wants knee surgery – or a root canal, either. But they do want to walk with ease and to chew without pain. Few people ever want the specific treatment that they need – but everyone wants their problem solved.

For 85% of people with hearing problems, their issues are solved with hearing aids – and they work incredibly well when nothing else will. For many other health problems we must simply live with that change, like back pain or arthritis. For some health issues we do every thing imaginable to stem the tide – diabetes, atherosclerosis, even hair transplants.

Yet, hearing is one of the more easily managed problems; no pain, no long excruciating treatments, no terrible side effects. The relief is almost immediate and the difference is usually obvious to everyone around you. Even still, many people experiencing hearing loss choose to ignore their condition.

Hearing loss doesn’t just affect the person experiencing it. It also affects close ones like spouses, family and friends as well as acquaintances like coworkers and restaurant servers. This is not only a frustrating experience for everyone involved but it has the potential to be dangerous.

Someone who is experiencing symptoms of hearing loss generally fall into two categories:

1. They aren’t even aware of their symptoms and therefore don’t realize the affect those symptoms are having on their quality of life. This also means they don’t realize the impact their hearing loss has on others.

2. They recognize their symptoms of hearing loss and how it is affecting overall quality of life for themselves and others. Those that do not seek treatment may look to isolate themselves from family, friends and activities that now cause frustration because of the hearing loss.

In either case, seeking help by a licensed audiologist is the first step in regaining the quality of life lost from hearing problems. While it’s not always the easiest thing to convince someone to seek treatment, this guide will help those who want to help their loved ones with hearing loss.

It is important to realize that the person with hearing loss is often the last to fully realize how much their hearing has changed. Hearing decline is slow and usually creates a response that we call FIND.

Fear

No one likes to think they are changing and most assume that hearing loss is a sign of age. It is easier to ignore the problem then to face the reality that change is indeed occurring. As with all health issues, ignoring it is never the best solution.

Insecurity

Closely related to fear, “As long as my hearing is good enough I’m not going to do anything about it” is a common sentiment. People feel that getting hearing aids will somehow change them, steal some aspect of their identity, or create other problems that they don’t have already. Better hearing actually prevents these changes, allowing them to continue being the person they’ve always been. Hearing loss untreated is what will change the person, making them ever-so-slowly withdraw from communication and activities that they always enjoyed. Slowly but definitely the untreated hearing loss will change them into a person they never were. Keeping hearing as sharp as possible allows you to be you.

Not Knowing

Because hearing changes so slowly some people genuinely don’t recognize the change in hearing or the communication problem. Often it is other people who notice that change first, a need for repeats, or the constant “huh?” or “I don’t catch that” – statements that were never there before. Spouses and other family comment about the change first and often become the “nag about my hearing”. Friends will notice but not say anything, or if they do, it will be to other people who also notice the change in you.

Denial

The most common response to hearing decline is disbelief, an honest sense that there is no change at all, or if there is a change it must be in other people. Commonly people in disbelief say “if you would only speak more clearly” or “people don’t talk as clearly as they used to”. This honest disbelief eventually evolves into denial about the problem altogether. The longer the hearing problem is untreated the further into heavy denial they slip. Denial is a strong deterrent to seeking any solution about anything – including your hearing.

1. Hearing Preservation

Studies at Johns Hopkins Medical School have revealed that when you treat hearing loss sooner you keep better hearing for years to come. This is because you process all sounds with your brain. Every bit of meaning that is interpreted from sounds is processed within your brain, not your ears. The brain is constantly changing and if hearing loss prevents your brain from receiving a full range of sound then those unused pathways will go away.

 Since hearing aids are the treatment for 85% of hearing loss there is no better reason to start using hearing aids earlier in your hearing decline. The longer you wait the more permanent your hearing decline becomes.

2. Situational Awareness

Have you ever known when someone was walking behind you without having to turn to see them? Have you known something was around the corner because you could hear it? This is Situational Awareness, the knowledge of your surroundings based on what you hear, see, smell, and touch. 

In fact, 50-60% of your situational awareness comes from hearing.

We start losing situational awareness as we lose visual clarity, hearing sensitivity, and perhaps some strength & feeling in our legs and feet. Better hearing helps you keep sharp awareness
of your environment and can improve your balance and overall sense of wellbeing.

3. Cognitive Clarity

Hearing loss has been closely linked with a variety of issues such as isolation and depression – two behaviors that can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. These are rooted in your cognition, your brain’s ability to process and understand a variety of incoming stimulations. An untreated hearing loss leaves your brain less capable of processing sounds. This weakened processing causes you to be less involved, withdrawn, and more likely to ignore the world around you.

1. Start a Conversation

This is often the hardest step, making that first comment. We suggest starting the conversation about a specific hearing event that happened recently, preferably in the last day or two. An event that occurred with friends, child, or a grandchild is often best since these are things people care about most. Simply make an observation “Honey, I noticed that you had some trouble following some of the conversation yesterday, it seemed you couldn’t understand James very well. Did you notice that, too?”

Often the person will deny it, blame the situation, or blame the other person. You must keep the conversation on them – “I know the room was noisy but everyone else was understanding James pretty well. I’ve noticed this more recently and I wonder if there’s been a change in your hearing. I think that’s something we need to keep our eye on.”

And let it end there. If your loved one wants to talk more about it then talk, but don’t push it. Just introduce it gently but clearly, and then let it rest. An argument at this stage will not encourage them to better hearing.

2. Gentle Reminders

Once the conversation is started you can then “keep an eye on it” by helping them notice the instances of hearing difficulty. No one likes to be nagged, but everyone can use a reminder. Gentle words like “Dad, you used to hear that sound really well,” or “Mom, last year you were understanding my words much better,” or “Dear, the TV is so much louder now than it was last year.” Be specific, give a timeline, and do it without blaming or shaming them. You simply want to clue them in over a period of time.

15 million people in the U.S. with hearing loss avoid seeking help.

A word about Words: few people with hearing problems report a “hearing loss” but almost everyone says they have “difficulty understanding.” “I hear you fine but I simply don’t understand some of your words” is a very common refrain. So as you talk with your loved one, use phrases such as “understanding issues,” or “a change in understanding ability,” or even “a shift in hearing or understanding.” Using “hearing loss” may only push some away from finding out about the problem.

3. Encourage and Embrace Research

Changes in hearing are like other bodily changes, like vision, or that slight loss of motion in the fingers – just a normal bodily change over time. Yet people respond to hearing decline with such strong denial, like it represents some personal failing. This is where articles about ear and hearing health can be helpful. Our website contains a Blog and news sections with a variety of updated references about the medical and health aspects of hearing loss. This can often cast the hearing change in a more realistic light.

4. Remind Them They Have Nothing to Lose but So Much to Gain

If you haven’t read the FIND section of this guide, please do so now. It details many concerns about loss and gain. Too often people focus on the “loss” and not the “hearing”, too much on “the appliance” of hearing aids and not enough on the power of restored hearing. This has to change. We have heard it hundreds of times from new users of hearing aids – “I wish I would have done this years ago. My hearing is so much better and I’m not even aware of wearing the hearing aids.” We must help people discover this message.

5. Offer to Schedule and Attend a Hearing Consultation

After your initial conversation and gentle reminders and exposure to reading and information, you can more firmly suggest to just get “a hearing check”. It’s nonthreatening, has nothing to do with buying a hearing aid or talking to a salesman, and certainly not a painful medical procedure. Just a “hearing check” to “get a baseline about your hearing.” It’s simple and easy.

 

The Carolina Hearing Doctors Consultation Process

In our work with ear surgeons, in university medical centers, and in specialized audiology offices we have taken the best of each office and created the best consultation process – the right way to do “a hearing check”.

1. Discussion of Hearing Problems

We want to first find the areas that are creating the most frustration with your hearing. We’ll ask questions to uncover exactly how the hearing loss is affecting your overall quality of life. We encourage a family member to also come to this appointment. They can often identify specific instances of how the hearing decline is affecting you.

This discussion will also include a history of ear health and related concerns to identify any medical issues that may be contributing to the hearing decline.

2. Hearing Evaluations

With that basic information, we then administer a series of hearing tests to measure both the capabilities and limits of your hearing. We will measure the softest sounds you are able to perceive as well as the upper limits of your hearing range. We’ll also compare your ability to understand speech at normal listening levels versus your preferred listening level. We sometimes include testing in background noise or with challenging listening simulations.

These tests generally last 45 minutes.

3. Discuss Results

Once the nature and extent of your hearing loss is known, we will discuss your results in
terms that are easily understandable. We’ll also explain how the results of the hearing
test directly relate to and explain the problems you are experiencing.

4. Recommended Plan for Next Steps

Lastly, we lay out options for solving your hearing situation. Those options will be one of the following:

  • Nothing, because there’s not enough hearing loss to need anything. Monitoring, re-evaluate your hearing in another couple of years because there is some hearing decline but not enough to need anything right now. 
  • Medical referral, because we locate a treatable problem for your hearing loss and your hearing can be restored with medication or surgery.
  • Discussion about hearing aids, because your hearing has changed enough that you can enjoy a return to better hearing with hearing aids.

5. Hearing Aid Fitting

Modern hearing technology comes in all sorts of forms, sizes, shapes and colors. Since no two people are the same, we use your comments about your needs and combine it with the findings from the examination. We account for what is possible with your hearing and recommend hearing aids that will realistically return your hearing to a useful, comfortable level. We choose from the 6 largest hearing aids brands, their unique styles, and multiple levels of technology from those brands.

At Carolina Hearing Doctors you can then use your selected hearing aids for a six-week “test drive.” For six weeks you use the hearing aids daily and experience exactly how they can return your hearing to clear levels. We provide specific guidance for wearing, caring and adapting to the aids to ensure the best hearing possible. We schedule three returns visits during this period to adjust your sound level as you adapt to the improved hearing.

At the end of six weeks your brain has adapted to the new levels of sound and you will know exactly how much they help. If you are pleased with some parts of the improvement but not everything we may recommend additional time with other hearing aids that may give the extra level of sound.

In the end if you are not happy with your improvement then simply return the hearing aids with no obligation. We want people to enjoy better hearing but if hearing aids aren’t offering that improvement then you are not expected to keep them.