Aging Parents and Hearing Loss

This was sent to me and I think it shows the benefits of digital technology available today.

Hearing and Confusion in My 90 Year Old Mom.  Did Mom hear what I said, or pretend? Is she confused?  She IS 89 and has dementia.  She asks the same things constantly.  

A few years ago my brothers and I replaced her ten-year old hearing aids.  There was new technology available. We hoped she would benefit from it.  She certainly did!  The new hearing aids had three settings: the first for normal conversation in a small area, the second for a medium amount of background noise (the aids worked in a way to reduce background noise and amplify what was being said nearby), and the third for situations with a lot of background noise, like restaurants.  The settings were simple for an older person to grasp.  There was a small button on the aid she could push to change the setting.  This system worked very well for several years.  

As Mom’s level of confusion increased we realized it would be easier for her to only have two choices.  So we adjust them so they would always stay on the same setting.  As she declined we did this.

Recently Mom came to live with my husband and I permanently.  We had been “passing her around” between families previous to this.  As she settled into a routine and I devoted full time to her, I began to see improvement in many health areas, though she still had the confusion mentioned earlier.  So I began to target the only two health problems she has – poor vision and hearing loss.

I took her to a doctor to be sure there wasn’t something structurally wrong.  This doctor was an expert at determining what was going on as mentioned at the beginning of this article.  I hadn’t initially taken her to this doctor because I didn’t expect to see improvement in any area.

Mom had a very comprehensive test.  The doctor’s conclusion was that the hearing aids needed a “tune-up” because her hearing has changed again.  I’m confident with the Free reprogramming we will get those little inserts working optimally again!  

Thank heavens for Digital Technology!!!!!

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