Does Hearing Loss Really Matter?

I think like so many things in life, we take for granted what is naturally in place, only realizing how important something is once it isn’t working.  I was asked the question last week by a patient, “Does hearing loss really matter?”

It seems like such a simplistic question.  So trivial that you may wonder if it even requires a response; I mean can you really imagine not being able to hear or connect with your family through normal conversation when that is all you have known your entire life!!!

My response is “Why doesn’t it seem to matter to you?”

I did not get an immediate response to my question.  However, I was allowed the opportunity to demonstrate hearing aid amplification.

Because Accessible Hearing Aids is a mobile audiology company I was able to re-create a scenario that had been causing trouble between this patient and his wife.

The patient’s wife was frustrated because her husband would not respond correctly or not respond at all unless she was face to face with him.  My patient was unaware that there was a big problem because he thought his wife always mumbled or talked when she walked away.  He did not realize it could have been a mild to moderate hearing loss causing the problem.

With the wife in a different room I customized the hearing aids to my patient’s specific hearing needs and for the first time in years he was able to clearly hear his wife ask him…”Please clean out the gutters.”

My patient could not believe the difference hearing aids made in what he could hear again.  He was so unaware of what hearing loss had slowly taken away from him.  He may not be delighted that he no longer has the excuse, “I didn’t hear you” to get out of chores, but he is also no longer living isolated from his family thinking they all mumble.

After hearing the difference hearing aids can make my patient said “I cannot believe what I was not hearing and that I was missing so much in the world around me.  Hearing loss really matters even when you do not realize you have one.”

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