Category — Effects of hearing loss

There are many people around the world living with undiagnosed hearing loss.  Unfortunately, a great number of people with hearing loss do not understand their condition and are in denial of any medical problem.  In a number of cases, a simple visit to a hearing professional can correct the hearing loss.  In these cases, the hearing loss is caused by an unknown build up of earwax in the ear canal.  Any blockage in the ear will cause hearing loss to some extent.  Even if the problem is more serious than a simple blockage, your doctor can prescribe therapy or hearing aids to alleviate the hearing loss.

With most types of hearing loss, there is a lack of ability to distinguish sounds when there is background noise present.  Many patients experiencing the beginning stages of hearing loss will avoid crowds and loud social situations because of their inability to hear.  Often, the avoidance of social situations is due to embarrassment or a fear of making an unacceptable response to a question.  Without the fine tuned ability to distinguish many different sounds, such as in a crowded stadium or party, questions are not easily understood.  

There are several widely accepted stages of grief associated with loss. Loss can identify the death of a loved one or friend, a physically disabling injury or even something as seemingly simple as hearing loss. One of these stages is denial and can last from hours or days to months and years.

Denial is a person’s inability to accept a situation and deal with the situation openly. Someone in denial of any physical problem, including hearing loss, cannot be pushed through the denial and into acceptance. People in denial of their hearing loss cannot be talked into seeing the doctor or getting hearing aids. They will argue, fight, kick and scream all the way until they are totally deaf and cannot hear at all without hearing aids.

There is a vast difference between the world of hearing and the world of hearing loss. While those who can hear perfectly move through the world with no trouble understanding others, enjoying social events and taking time for the little pleasures in life. It is simple for those who hear to take a walk through a park and listen to the birds sing or the breeze move through the trees. The birds may still sing and the breeze may still blow around patients with hearing loss, but they will never be able to identify the sounds.

There are many elements to the feelings experienced by those diagnosed with hearing loss. Anger, frustration and resentment are often at the top of the list and can affect relationships between the diagnosed patients and their families and friends. If the emotions that come with a hearing loss diagnosis are not recognized and worked with, they can isolate and alienate the patient from those they love.

Anger is an emotion felt for a number of reasons and can range from mild irritation to outright rage. Anger felt toward hearing loss can span the same range, from mild irritation at a minor loss to outright rage of full hearing loss in both ears. The anger can be directed outward, toward others close to the patient. It can also be directed inward or at a higher power, for the failing of the body and the loss of the essential human sense of hearing.

It is a rare thing for a person experiencing hearing loss to be the first to recognize the problem. In most instances the loss is recognized by friends or family, either a spouse or children, who are close to the person losing their hearing. In some cases the fact the hearing loss is not instantly recognized is due to denial, the patient being unwilling to admit there is a problem with their hearing.

Grief is a healing process that can be induced by the loss of a loved one, loss of a limb, even the loss of something as simple as a job. There are five widely accepted stages of grief that an overwhelming majority of people go through when they experience a loss. A person’s life is dependent on what they hear and how they react to sounds and speech, making hearing loss  just as dramatic as the loss of a loved one.

The first stage of grief is denial. The person experiencing hearing loss will deny there is a problem. The more friends and family insist there is a problem, the more a person with hearing loss will withdraw from contact and avoid social situations that may expose their hearing loss to others.

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.