Neglecting to get your hearing treated can actually cause more damage.
Having a hearing loss results in a lot more than missing a word or two of conversation. The effect of untreated hearing loss can be quite devastating to a person’s sense of well-being.
Studies have shown sadness, depression, worry and anxiety are just a few of the psychological effects of untreated hearing loss. If you have an untreated hearing loss, you may notice a gradual decline in your willingness to participate in social activities. People tend to withdraw from certain activities because they cannot enjoy themselves if they struggle to hear. Not only will hearing aids help your hearing improve, they can also help you feel more comfortable in social situations.
What other benefits might I see from wearing hearing aids?
Thanks to recent technological advances, more than 90% of individuals with hearing loss can be helped with hearing aids. In most cases, hearing aids are the only solution for hearing loss. Those who have been fit with hearing aids have reported receiving many more benefits than just hearing better.
Not only does hearing loss affect the individual with the loss, but it also affects those around the hearing impaired person. Hearing loss can cause frustration, stress and anxiety to all involved.
Hearing aid wearers report that their relationships with family members and friends improved once they decided to get hearing aids. They also report better self esteem after being fit with amplification. Most feel much more comfortable in social situations since they can interact and converse with those around them. Hearing aids can also lead to greater independence and security. Hearing is a natural safety mechanism. We live in a noisy and busy world. We need to hear the world around us in order to lead independent and safe lives.
Naturally, the above hearing aid benefits will lead to improved mental health. By feeling confident, having strong family and friend relationships, rewarding social interactions, independence and security, our well being improves. Hearing aids not only help us hear – they also improve quality of life.
What are some common challenges of hearing loss?
Some of the most common complaints hearing healthcare professionals are told by patients with hearing loss are:
- “I can hear fine, I just can’t understand what people are saying! If they would just speak clearly instead of mumble, I could understand them better.”
- “I miss softer spoken conversation, especially from women and children.”
- “I can’t understand anything in restaurants. In fact, I quit going to eat with my family because I have no idea what they are talking about.”
Do any of these complaints sound familiar to you? If so, you may want to consider having your hearing tested. Let’s take a look at each one of these complaints to get a better understanding of what is causing them.
“I can hear fine, I just can’t understand what people are saying! If they would just speak clearly instead of mumble, I could understand them better.” and “I miss softer spoken conversation, especially from women and children.”
Maybe you feel the problem is NOT your hearing because there are things that you can hear as well as anyone else. Maybe your problem is more in the understanding. Or maybe your family members think you have “selective hearing.” Let’s discuss why with hearing loss we can hear, but not understand.
Let’s look at the sounds of speech and where they occur in pitch and loudness.
In this example, this person can hear low-pitched sounds and vowel sounds of speech normally, but what about the high-pitched consonant sounds of speech like th- f- sh- p-? (Remember that anything above the red circles and blue X’s is out of this person’s range of hearing). With this common type of hearing loss, we lose meaning in speech and often question whether the word said was, for example, STOP, TOP, POP or HOP, because we can’t hear the S, T, P or H. Because low pitches carry the volume of speech and high pitches carry the understanding, a person with this very common hearing loss may find themselves saying, “I can hear but I can’t understand, especially if I am talking to someone with a higher pitched voice.”
“I can’t understand anything in restaurants. In fact, I quit going to eat with my family because I have no idea what they are talking about.”
Hearing in noise is the number one complaint of individuals with hearing loss. Even normal hearing people have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments from time to time. In quiet, you may be able to follow conversation by the context. But if you have a hearing loss, it is much more difficult to follow speech when noise is present. This causes you to miss more and more pieces of the conversation as you cannot rely on the context to fill in the blanks.
“I struggle hearing on the phone and avoid calling family and friends because of the frustration and embarrassment it causes.”
