Category — Effects of hearing loss

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

The thought of losing one’s hearing is certainly disturbing.  As kids, lots of us probably plugged our ears and walked around, trying to simulate what it would be like, but of course after just a few minutes we could take our fingers out and go along with our lives.  Unfortunately, for someone who actually loses their hearing, it’s just not that simple.  

No one wants to admit they are hard of hearing.  It’s embarrassing.  To admit you really don’t hear that well is to admit you have a problem.  Hearing loss is a problem and admitting you have it could be the first step to an easy and painless solution.

Everyone agrees that it’s the communication between two people that brings intimacy between two people.  All of us have who we call our best or closest friend.  We feel safe talking to them because of a bond or feeling of intimacy built usually on open communication.  This feeling develops with people we feel close to.

For some, a hearing loss can be devastating to those relationships.  This would affect more people than one may think.  Take, for instance, the sound of a lover’s voice.  If you were constantly asking “what” or “repeat that”, how long would the intimacy last?

One of the most important aspects of a wonderful marriage is good communication.  It is so important to really listen to your spouse and understand what your partner is trying to say.  If your mate has to keep repeating things because you don’t hear, or if you pretend to hear when you don’t, you could have problems.  Your spouse may even stop trying to communicate with you unless it’s really necessary, and you will miss out on all the little things you used to enjoy talking about with him/her.