Hearing Loss And Family
I love my life because of who I am close to in my life. I believe that is true for everyone. It’s not how successful or how much money we have that will bring the most joy. Many who are successful and have loads of money aren’t happy. My experience in working with mostly those in their 60’s to 100 years of age has taught me it’s the closeness to others that brings joy and happiness to anyone’s life. In the end, that’s all that really matters.
Perhaps the most devastating place I see negative effects of someone that has an uncorrected hearing loss is in the family. I see hurt feelings, hurt pride and such deep-seeded resentment — all caused by a hearing loss. These hurtful feelings come from both sides of the fence. The person that doesn’t have the hearing loss often feels the most hurt because the person they want to be close to won’t take steps to correct a problem that could be corrected.
Over time a hearing loss slowly, but surely, separates most relationships — usually to the point that the individual with the hearing loss ends up isolated due to hurt feelings or because of the state of denial they are in — blaming everyone else for their lack of ability to communicate. Ones close to those kinds of people eventually just give up and many just stop talking or trying to communicate.
Families suffer because of the constant irritation of repeated misunderstandings or very commonly the TV is so loud the neighbors know what they are watching.  All of these constant situations over years cause a division, even among the closest relationships.
If you have a correctable hearing loss, please do something about it.  Get a hearing aid that you feel comfortable with and I guarantee you’ll see a wonderful change, not only in others but in yourself.
