Hearing aided spouse defensive about hearing loss.

I feel for you. I went thru the same situation for years. I sympathize w your frustrations. My solution was to just talk louder, and have faith in knowing he was dealing w the inner turmoil of it all, and at some point would do something. That point came when we went in last yr for our physicals, and our PCP recommended he try Costco... and he did! He's been intermittently agitated w getting used to them, but he's soldiering thru. He knows it's a foreign object in his ears to get used to, and it's never going to be perfect, but he CAN hear better. Praying for you; it's not fun! Hang in there.

If someone needs a hearing aid to improve his quality of life why would he be defensive about it?
I would think he would welcome being able to hear better.
Hopefully hearing aids continue to get better and someday they can find a way to actually regrow hair cells in our ears. Until then thank goodness for hearing aids.
They are just like glasses for people born with poor vision.
Just my opinion. Hearing loss can run in families and if you inherit that gene be happy hearing aids continue to get better.

I ned to clarify - he does have hearing aids.

Hearing loss is so frustrating especially for the person with it. Even with aids group situations can be hard. I always tell people that hearing aids don’t give you perfect hearing like glasses can give you almost 20/20 vision. Have you suggested he get his hearing aids adjusted? That can help. But just remember hearing aids help but not going to give perfect hearing.

@mickey5909 You are correct. Hearing aids amplify but do not always clarify. Some high end aids have programs that allow you to block out some of the surrounding noise and can be helpful in one-on-one situations. But many times you also need to add an assistive listening device like a Partner Mic or multi purpose Mic. My Partner Mic can be worn by my wife in the car and by her speaking into it I can catch a lot of what she is saying as the Mic doesn't pick up all of the extra road/car noise.
I also use the Phonak Roger On multi-purpose mic that also allows me to use a setting to block out background noise so that I can point the mic at someone near me and hear what they are saying more clearly. I've used this in a Sports bar with my wife and daughter around a table and point it at whoever is talking and it helps a lot. It can also be placed on the middle of a table like in a board meeting where only one person is talking at a time and it lets me hear what people at the other end of the table are saying.
Ask your audiologist about what options your specific model of hearing aid can use.
Mike

Totally agree. I believe rather than being defensive, it was more frustration on my husband's part: frustration w acceptance of his hearing loss. Ironically, when 2 cancerous tumors were discovered on my left kidney and successfully removed, his perception of "what's irritating vs what's downright scary" changed dramatically as he's walked w me on my journey.

I am glad he finally went to Costco. I don’t understand why is fighting it so hard. Hopefully he can just appreciate hearing better.
Costco is the answer for some people with mild to moderate hearing loss. If his hearing loss is severe or profound he might actually need to see an audiologist and purchase more advanced hearing aids. Yes they cost more but it could be money well spent.
Good luck.

Your point was very true. Things could always be worse.
At my age many people are dying of so many different diseases and they would all agree hearing loss is something they could live with when faced with the alternative.
Good luck to you and your husband.

I think it's oftentimes human nature to struggle w our inevitable mortality, and failing parts of our bodies remind us of that. Was a major eye opener to my husband to see how much deeper of a stab mortality can have when we went thru my partial nephrectomy. Definitely changes perspective. 🙂

I am sorry you had to go through what you did but I am happy it affected your husband in a positive way.
We all start to think about our mortality as we age and hearing loss is not fun but hopefully those with hearing loss still appreciate all the good things about their life.