If you are concerned that you may be losing your hearing, tackling the problem early can improve both your hearing and your quality of life.
People who are fitted with hearing aids early are likely to get more benefit from them than those who put up with hearing loss for years before seeking help. Despite the fact that deafness can be socially isolating, it can take up to 15 years for people who clearly have hearing loss to get tested. A key reason for those long years in denial about deafness is the stigma of hearing loss.
If you have hearing loss, you may feel cut off from the world, and this can lead to depression. Your confidence can also be eroded, causing you to avoid social contact.
You and your partner
Delaying diagnosis can also affect your relationships with family and friends. This causes friction, which can develop into ongoing resentment.
Partners of people with hearing loss commonly complain of loneliness, feeling isolated, missing out on companionship and a poor social life.
Ignoring the problem of hearing loss won’t make it go away. And you could be missing out on devices that could help you hear better and improve you and your partner’s quality of life.
Reasons to deal with your hearing loss
If your hearing seems to be declining, here are some good reasons to acknowledge that there may be a problem and to seek help:
You will have a better relationship with family and friends.
There is a huge amount of hearing loss help available, including digital hearing aids, which are much smaller and easier to control than previous versions. There are also gadgets to make your life easier, including extra-loud landlines and mobile phones, amplifiers and flashing doorbells, sonic boom and vibrating alarm clocks, and vibrating watches.
It’s better to start wearing hearing aids sooner rather than later. This is because getting used to amplified sound is harder if you’ve already got used to a quieter world, which means your hearing aid will be less effective.
This fact sheet was created for public information by Deafness Forum of Australia. It is the national advocacy body for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Australians. It represents all interests and viewpoints including those people who have a chronic disorder of the ear and those who are Deafblind. www.deafnessforum.org.au