If you are one of the millions of Americans living with hearing loss or one of the millions more who love someone with hearing loss, this article is for you. While everyone living with hearing loss has their own unique experiences, there are a few common themes people with hearing loss understand deeply. Here is a list of some of the most commonly expressed wishes we hear from people with hearing loss.
“I’m not ignoring you, and I want to know what you are saying.”
Whether you’re speaking passionately to someone with hearing loss or just sharing your day, we know it can feel frustrating when your communication partner keeps asking you to repeat yourself. Because hearing loss is so gradual and also invisible, it is easy for loved ones to forget their friends or family members even suffer from it. Please know that when a person with hearing loss asks you to repeat yourself, they genuinely want to know what you are saying and are doing their best to understand you – not because they are not listening.
“Please don’t give up on the conversation.”
We know that sometimes having conversations with someone with hearing loss can be frustrating, and trust us, they are frustrated too. Please be patient with a communication partner with hearing loss and don’t fall into the trap of simply stating “never mind” or leaving the conversation when it becomes problematic.
“I am not dumb or rude, and I don’t need you to speak for me.”
When someone with hearing loss responds inappropriately to a joke or doesn’t respond to a whispered “excuse me” in the grocery store, they are not unintelligent or inconsiderate. Most likely, the person misunderstood what you were saying or did not hear your remark. Kindly repeating yourself in different words can often avoid embarrassment or miscommunication in these instances. People with hearing loss also do not need others to speak for them. As long as those around them are willing to make simple accommodations, people with hearing loss are just fine communicating independently.
“Hearing loss is tiring and mentally exhausting.”
To appreciate why hearing loss can lead to mental exhaustion, we need to think about how the brain hears. The auditory nerve carries sounds from the environment to the inner ear, where sensory cells convert noise into electrical impulses transferred to the brain via the auditory nerve. Each of these microscopic hair cells is in charge of translating a distinct frequency. Our brain is in charge of “decoding” these impulses into understandable sound; when a hair cell is too damaged to translate a particular frequency, the brain has to work harder to decode the information. Listening fatigue develops as a result of the increased effort.
“If I don’t hear you, use different words.”
If someone you are speaking to has hearing loss and asks you to repeat yourself, do so once, just slightly louder and a bit more clearly. If they do not hear the second time, do not slow down your words to a toddler’s pace or continue to repeat the exact words louder and louder until one of you becomes frustrated. Sometimes, simply rephrasing your words can dramatically improve intelligibility and understanding.
Hearing aids do not work the way glasses do.
While hearing aids can dramatically improve conversations and quality of life, they do not perfectly restore normal hearing. Unlike glasses, hearing aids do not completely “fix” hearing loss, and it is essential to know what accommodations your loved one with hearing loss needs to understand you fully.
Many of these issues can be improved with the correct hearing aids that are fine-tuned to your specific hearing profile. If you are wondering about your hearing health or are looking for hearing aids that may be a better fit for you, reach out to us! We are here to help you and look forward to speaking with you.