Family and Friends Concern

Help someone you know hear better!

How to help those closest to you get the hearing help they need.

You can make a difference! 

Hearing loss doesn’t just affect the person who has it. It also affects spouses, family members and friends. From frustration with having to repeat things to heartbreak at seeing someone you care about isolate themselves from the people and activities they love, the negative effects of hearing loss cast a wide net.

Convincing a loved one to seek help is the right thing to do, however it’s not always easy.

Slow and steady wins the race!

What you can do:

Speak with your loved one about what you’ve noticed.

Encourage them to visit a hearing health care professional and have their hearing checked, and get an understanding about potential solutions.

Offer to attend the hearing health care appointment with them.

Don’t be surprised if you get resistance.

Hearing loss is a very gradual process. The onset can be compared to a dimming switch for lights in a room – the room becomes gradually darker. Because of this gradual process, the parts of speech or sounds that your loved one is missing, or mishearing, simply cease to exist, to them.

As the hearing loss begins to set in, people are in less of a hurry to do something about it. Research shows that many wait upwards of 5 to 7 years before finally seeking treatment. Be prepared for pushback with these responses:

My family doctor would have told me if I have hearing loss. Not true! Less than 20% of physicians nationwide screen for hearing loss during annual physicals.

Wearing her hearing aid will make my hearing loss obvious. Not true! Today’s hearing aids are sleek and stylish or even invisible and certainly far less noticeable then if you constantly have to ask people to repeat themselves, inappropriately respond, or don’t respond at all.

A hearing aid won’t help me. Not true!