Why do people refuse to get hearing help?

I was actually born with hearing loss so it basically started when I was in elementary school. I was always failing the hearing tests the nurse gave and always got moved to the front of the class. It was embarrassing because I felt singled out. But I don’t try to hide it and was never in denial. It just made me feel different from everyone else at an age where I wanted to fit in.

While hearing loss is not the only thing that we humans deny but it may be one of the most common. Back in my days of working in EMS I saw many patients who were have a heart attack (life threatening) and were in denial and refusing help.

In my case of hearing loss denial I have lots other excuses. I was in Viet Nam and working with a lot of explosives. When I returned home I noticed that there seemed to be fewer birds and crickets. But I was in my 20s and busy launching my life. I had a girl friend to impress too. Life went on and in the 1980s my employer started a "hearing conservation program". We all got tested and I had hearing loss. I could see the numbers on paper. I couldn't deny any more because the evidence was overwhelming. My excuses ran out but I didn't seek treatment right away.

I'm not a psychologist but I think there is a little discussed component to genetic predisposition to hearing loss. If a person's parents and siblings have hearing loss that skews the person's perception of normal hearing and results in denial. The same thing in our social settings when the people we associate with have hearing loss we don't see it as abnormal.

What is the worst part is the damage that young people are doing to their hearing with loud music. We (in general) know better and continue to expose ourselves to unnecessary noise. Loud concerts, loud mufflers on vehicles, and the list goes on. We have more knowledge of hearing loss and its consequences, better screening and diagnostics, much better treatment options, but human denial has not changed much. Somethings we have to learn the hard way.

At 77 my hearing must be diminished, but 1. People don't enunciate anymore 2. Some movies have perfect sound, others are garbled with echoes 3. My friends with hearing aids are constantly fiddling with them, or losing them - and they still say "What?" 4. They cost in the thousands of dollars, and are one more thing to keep track of (phone, keys, glasses, wallet, etc.) I can hear just fine when people don't speak from the back of their nose.

You manage to keep track of your glasses. It is a lot easier keeping track of your hearing aids because they are on until you go to bed and put them in your charger.
Maybe if you tried them you might realize all the sounds you are not hearing. I think you might be surprised.
Do it for you but also for all the people you interact with throughout your day.
Just a thought.

I hate to bring up my six year old granddaughter again but I feel I must once again.
She also was born with mild hearing loss and when she got fitted for hearing aids she was so excited she could hear better.
More importantly she owned them and rather than feeling like she didn’t fit in she told my daughter to pull her hair back the first day of kindergarten so everyone could see them.
Some of her classmates came home and told their parents they wanted hearing aids just like hers.
Someone asked her why she needed them and she answered that it is the same reason some people wear glasses. She wants to hear better and they want to see better.
I am almost 74 with severe to profound hearing loss. I don’t hide the fact I wear hearing aids in fact I mention it to people if I am in a noisy restaurant and having a hard time hearing them.
My point is rather than try to hide the fact you have hearing loss own it like myself and my six year old granddaughter.
Hopefully this helps someone out there.

That is great she is owning it. I never had hearing aids growing up. My mom also had hearing loss and did not have hearing aids so if anyone was to get them first it would have been her. It was a money thing at the time. So I struggled and of course by middle school I was so self conscious of not being able to hear. I really wanted hearing aids.

Try TruHearing. They can give you much better price on hearing aids and tell you where to find an audiologist in you area.
Good luck.

Feeling different can be very difficult. Did that feeling continue into your teenage years and adulthood?

Well fit hearing aids should stay on your ears most of your waking hours. "Fiddling" seems to happen more with the tiny domes used in some of today's hearing aids. A well fit ear mold usually resolves that issue. Also, the 'fiddling of old' is now done pretty much with cell phones, which is a big change from years ago.

Reality though is that most people don't talk any different than they did when we were hearing better. Thinking they are doing this on purpose is a problem for some. The high cost of hearing aids is also a problem. No easy solutions...but there are some pretty good ones out there.

Sometimes it comes down to whether or not a person wants to or cares to participate in social conversation. That decision is up to each of us to make.

I always felt left out in my teen years. I didn’t get hearing aids until I went off to college and even then I felt frustrated not being able to join in the fun in group settings. Now that I’m 45 it isn’t nearly as bad I just avoid those settings if I can and I’m not as shy about speaking up if I don’t understand something.