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How does hearing loss change you?

Posted by joangela @joangela, May 11, 2019

For me, hearing loss has always been a part of my life. Those darn hearing tests in elementary school always put me in the category of hearing loss. Now, that I am much older, in my late 50s my hearing loss is profound. It is so bad, even my hearing family, has a real hard time adjusting to it.
How it has really changed me?
I was a small business owner, and a top notch sales person. I was a huge people person and an excellent communicator. It’s all gone.
A major change in my life.
How about you?

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bobweb | @bobweb | Jun 16 12:02pm
In reply to @ksdm "I am trying to figure out when I should get hearing aids. I've been tested and..." + (show)
@ksdm

I am trying to figure out when I should get hearing aids. I've been tested and have some loss. I find dinner with 5 or 6 people at the table in a restaurant, hard to hear the conversations but I live alone and I am 82. Really don't have a problem with daily life or one one-on-one conversations. Would it be smart to get them now or wait until my hearing gets worse? I have no idea what kind to get, either! Thanks for any info.

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This may sound silly, but try cupping your hand around the back of the ear most easily directed toward the speaker. That also alerts the speaker to maybe giving you preferential broadcasts in your direction! Of course using one hand on each ear doubles the hearing horn affect. Hearing horns do work, but people would rather pay thousands of dollars for hearing aids that they may never find practical to wear and maintain. They are always needing cleaning to remove ear wax build ups in the domes and tubes in my experience. In your case I'd also explore the new Over The Counter (OTC) rechargeable Behind The Ear (BTE) type hearing aids from reputable manufacturers that cost less than $1,000 per pair. They will help in noisy environments, but the noise will still be a problem. Hearing aids are like eye glasses in that if you can get along most of the time without them, you may not bother with them except for special events etc. Some hearing aids have a special Telecoil "T-Coil" mode that work great if the building (church for example) has a magnetic loop that broadcasts directly to T-Coil equipped hearing aids.

REPLY
char09 | @char09 | Jun 22 9:15am
In reply to @joangela "Hi Ethan, Communication, as I mentioned, impacts every part of your life. I didn’t talk about..." + (show)
@joangela

Hi Ethan,
Communication, as I mentioned, impacts every part of your life. I didn’t talk about family and friends. But, of course, that is effected dramatically. Being the social person that I am by nature, before I would naturally just go meet new people, neighbors. Go to different meetings, and always get a new friend. Now, I don’t exert the energy to do that. I don’t want to make the effort as much. It is just too tiring. I stay with old friends, and social media is still an avenue for me to keep in touch with them. I can also converse with new people, like right here. And family, woah, this is so hard for them too. That is a whole other conversation. I feel more alone even with them by my side. It is so frustrating for all of us, and I want them to understand more, but it is so difficult for them. I am so thankful that I have them in my life though. They knew and loved me before, and they love me now.

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Having lost the hearing in my right ear 11 years ago due to Instant Hearing Loss, I could identify with many of your experiences.
For a long time I felt that if others can’t see the problem or injury, there is nothing wrong with you. It was so frustrating. I can hear most conversations fine, if there are no other interfering sounds such as music, outside noise, undo noise inside restaurants, but add in the noise I can’t hear the main conversation. Then like you, I do less social events and tend to stick to small social gathering. Life has changed.

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