Denial Of Hearing Loss Comes In Many Forms
Denial of a medical condition, such as hearing loss, is common and may actually happen more than people think. Denial of such a condition comes in many forms, including irritation and frustration, even anger and rage. Frequently with hearing loss, the person experiencing the loss will complain that others are not speaking clearly enough to be understood or are speaking too quietly.
Some of the first signs of hearing loss can include an inability to follow conversations, difficulty hearing in a noisy or crowded environment and misunderstanding what people are saying. It is not uncommon to become frustrated or irritate with the need to continually ask people to repeat themselves. This frustration and irritation may cause unwarranted accusation of mumbling against family members and friends. It can be socially embarrassing and personally difficult when the person speaking is not understood, causing responses that may be entirely inappropriate.
Denial Can Prolong The Suffering Of Hearing Loss
There are many events in life that can cause grief. Personal loss, terminal diagnosis of a medical problem, even substance abuse can cause grief and its many stages, including denial. Hearing loss can be viewed as equivalent to a terminal diagnosis of serious illness. Especially felt in young to middle aged adults, a large number of people who experience hearing loss feel a sense of grief equivalent to a death in the family.
Usually, throughout our lives, we take our ability to hear for granted. People not wanting to admit to hearing loss will often cover the condition with excuses such as fatigue, being distracted or simply not paying attention. Hearing loss is usually a degenerative condition, sometimes getting worse very gradually. This gradual decrease in hearing ability can make it easier for someone to deny they have a problem; continually excusing their problem until they are forced to confront the condition.
Less Visible Hearing Aids Are An Option
One major concern with aging adults experiencing hearing loss is the appearance of traditional hearing aids. Traditional hearing aids are generally flesh colored and sit behind the ear, with an attachment that fits completely into the ear canal. These large, often uncomfortable, hearing aids used to be the only option for people experiencing hearing loss.
Today’s technology allows people experiencing hearing loss a wide range of smaller, less visible hearing aids. There are many current studies that cite appearance of hearing aids as a major reason to not use them, regardless of their effectiveness or benefits. In a majority of hearing loss patients, even the smallest available hearing aids can provide relief from the symptoms of hearing loss.
Children and Hearing Loss
When learning that their child suffers from hearing loss, parents understandably have questions and concerns about treatment options. Fortunately, many children with hearing impairments can benefit from the use of hearing aids. After an audiologist conducts an evaluation, parents will receive information about certain therapies for children and hearing loss devices that can greatly improve their child’s quality of life.
Factors such as birth defects, ear infections, or injuries can cause hearing loss in children. While some children are born with a hearing impairment, others do not begin to show signs of hearing loss until they are several years of age. Parents typically become concerned about hearing problems when their child fails to acquire speech and does not respond to questions or comments. Through a series of tests, audiologists can determine whether a child has sensorineural (inner ear) hearing loss, the degree to which the child is affected, and the type of hearing aid that is most effective for specific cases of children and hearing loss.
Close Friends and Hearing Loss
Having a conversation with a close friend who has hearing loss can be challenging. Talking with that same friend about their hearing loss can be even more difficult. People who experience hearing loss are often reluctant to admit it, even if they’ve noticed that more and more frequently they’re asking people to repeat what’s been said. What can you do to help close friends who have hearing loss?
Have Compassion
A person who experiences hearing loss often doesn’t realize, or is unwilling to admit, how serious it is. They may deny that they have a problem at all and blame the inability to hear on various factors such as a head cold, the weather or other noises that may be present. As hearing loss is also equated with aging, many people fear that admitting the loss is also an admission that they’re getting old.
Hearing Loss Can Cause the Wrong Impression on the Job
It is extremely important to any business to maintain good customer relations. This includes how you listen to people and respond to situations and conversations. Team projects at work are an important business method to improve customer service, sales and profit. Coworkers are expected to work together efficiently, with an emphasis on everyone on the team pulling their own weight on projects. Undiagnosed hearing loss can have a dramatic effect on your interaction with your coworkers and customers.
Missing the Conversation Due to a Hearing Loss
Have you already asked your wife to repeat herself for the second time? Are you hearing only muffled words or nothing at all? Are you turning your head to the right or left to hear out of the ear that still works as it should? Are you finding yourself becoming frustrated, or even angry, with those around you because they are mumbling? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you may be feeling the effects of hearing loss.
Loss of Hearing Can Cause Depression
Depression is a chronic, serious mental illness that can lead to other, more dangerous conditions. Depression can suppress the immune system and even lead to paranoia and borderline schizophrenia in some people. Most people would be surprised to learn how closely undiagnosed hearing loss and depression have been linked in older adults. There have been several studies that validate the link between hearing loss and depression. One such study by the National Council on Aging found, of the 2,300 adults over age 50 in the study, those with undiagnosed hearing loss were more likely to suffer from depression and its attendant feelings of sadness, anxiety and paranoia.
You May Think Hearing Aids Make You Look Elderly
The traditional images hearing aids conjure are of flesh colored blocks that are stuck behind your ears with an ear plug stuck in your ear. Another image that may spring to mind is the elderly man or woman wandering around with their walker saying, “What was that, sonny?” It is just this sort of image that may literally scare people away from investigating the assistance and relief that can be found with hearing aids.
Digital Hearing Aids Manufacturer Sets Standard – Producing Best Quality Hearing Aid for Price
Digital hearing aid manufacturer sets the bar high by producing the highest hearing aid technology for the lowest price.
(PRWEB) October 14, 2009 — Most of the high cost of http://www.myhearpod.com hearing aids is not for the actual hearing aid, but for the service given by person dispensing the hearing aids. Most providers say the high costs associated with hearing aids are for the service they will provide customers for the life of their hearing aid. Many however offer very little service in exchange for the thousands of dollars given to them by customers, with some even charging for office visits.
