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Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Apr 27 9:02pm | Replies (1626)Comment receiving replies
My name is Elizabeth. I am 62 years old and was diagnosed with age-related hearing loss after visiting an ENT to have wax cleared out of my ears last November. I have tinnitus in my left ear but I didn't pick up on this until I got home from the ENT. I have another appointment in April to have my ears cleaned again. My maternal grandmother had hearing loss and was virtually deaf by the time she died at age 90+. Her cause was not helped by the fact that she refused to wear hearing aids. I am wondering if it would be helpful for me to learn to lip read while I can still hear or what my next step should be.
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@solear26
Most people here will tell you to have your hearing tested by an audiologist. That will probably result in a recommendation to get hearing aids. The make, model, price, and type of hearing aids has all have a very wide range of choices. But of equal importance is the programming, fitting, and adjusting of the hearing aids. The Hearing Loss Association of America (hearing loss.org) has good basic information on that.
But keep in mind that hearing aids do not “fix” hearing loss. They only improve it, and how much depends a lots of factors. Your audiologist will advise you on that. So make sure that you find a good audiologist. With regard to lip reading (speech reading) that will not be a total remedy either. Some people are much better than others. But most of us with hearing loss pick up a surprising amount of ability without formal instruction. Don’t expect to be able to pick up more than about a third by speech reading. But in the end, with hearing aids working well, speech reading, and accessories like a portable microphone, TV streamer, and certain features in hearing aids that allow audio to be transmitted directly into hearing aids it can make a huge difference in your life.