When do we finally get what it means to have hearing loss? When it happens to us.
When do we learn how to live well with it? When we’re ready and when we really want to. Which may be very soon, sometime soon, or never.
Recently I gave a presentation on hearing loss in the community where I live. Basic stuff – types of hearing loss, how many of us have it, how many of us are going to have it, what to do when we suspect we might have it, what hearing aids can and cannot do, and other assistive technology and behaviours that can help.
I worried that the audience would be bored – I mean, surely, they must already know at least some of what I was talking about. You can’t open a newspaper or social media without seeing a hearing aid advertisement or go to a social event without seeing half the people sporting hearing aids or at least needing them.
I also knew most of the 20 audience members, and suspected they had come to the presentation, sponsored by the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, just to be nice to me.
I was shocked – at how not bored they were and their limited knowledge of strategies that would improve their life. Many had their hearing aids with them, although not necessarily in their ears. A few were in the early stages of exploring hearing aids and gripped by classic denial. “I’m not sure if I really need them.” “I’ve heard they make social situations even worse, with the noise and all.”
One woman told me that she had a lot of questions for me. All of them boiled down to “Which hearing aid brand should I get?” She was in knots, thinking she had to arrive at the audiologist with her choice already made, as if she were choosing a brand of toilet or flooring and only needed a bit of advice from a salesperson.
This was the first time anyone in the audience had attended a talk on hearing loss. After 30 years, and even in this age of mass information and social media and widespread hearing loss, I was answering the same questions asked by any person facing hearing difficulties. Some people just never ask the questions out loud.
Why am I still struggling to hear? My audiologist said I don’t have to wear them all the time. Should I get a different brand, or go to a different clinic? People leave me out of conversations.
The hearing loss journey is personal. It starts when it starts and the direction it takes is up to you.
- True understanding of what it’s like to have hearing loss occurs only when it happens to you.
- Learning how to live the best possible life with hearing loss only occurs when you want to learn…becasue you sense that something could be better or different with your hearing landscape.
- Hearing care professionals (backed by science, training and expertise) will serve you best when you ask lots of questions, when they listen to you, answer your questions, and you listen to them. Also, when they ask you lots of questions and when you listen to them. THEN, it’s a good idea to compare notes and make sure you’re on the right path.
- Other people with hearing loss are great companions to commiserate over the crap that hearing loss can dish up.
- Other people with successful lived experience can be a positive force – if you let them.
These are the hearing loss lessons we learn on our own schedule. They all start with asking a question.
