Hearing Loss is More Common than You Think, but Not Normalized
It is true that it is very common for people to have trouble recognizing when their own hearing loss is coming on. There are a multitude of tangled reasons for this, ranging from the sheer difficulty of recognizing changes in your own senses given how gradually they come on to straight fear of admitting the changes within your own body that you cannot deny. One thing is clear: people most often do not admit when they are suffering hearing loss.
Hearing loss is among the most common health conditions in America today. Though only less than three out of every 1,000 births results in some form or another of congenital hearing loss, more than 13% of Americans live with it. This percentage increases with age, due to the many causes of hearing loss, most of which are commonly known. By the time we consider the age bracket of people 65 years old and above, more than 1/3 of them suffer hearing loss. And among people aged 75 tears old and above more than half live with it. But even though it is this common, it is still normalized.
In fact, only about 20% of everyone who suffers from disabling hearing loss seeks appropriate care. Counted among this small proportion of people would be everyone who wears hearing aids. And among those who wear hearing aids they have each waited an average of seven years to do so. That is seven years from the time that they first realized that they might need to do so and then finally doing so.
Why is this?
Many of us learn to downplay health concerns every day. We all have plans, schedules, commitments to keep up with. If you have indigestion but you also have a work deadline that you know you can’t afford to miss, doesn’t it become a psychological challenge of your self-worth to overcome that indigestion? And if you have some minor injury, say a sprained wrist, but you also have plans with friends that you have been looking forward to for a long time, how likely are you to cancel these plans? We all come to live with our ailments and normalize doing so. But how is hearing loss different?
You may be able to block it out mentally. When you are alone or in quiet settings of course it is no problem to just not think about it. And you may be able to fool yourself into thinking that you can cope with hearing loss. You will likely minimize the havoc that it will create in your life and overall health. But hearing loss is irreversible and incurable. Unlike indigestion or a sprained wrist, your hearing does not eventually repair itself. But it can be made manageable with appropriate care. This is why intervening as early as possible makes such a big difference.
Imagine Even Trying to Pretend
Who could you really fool? Hearing loss is not a binary. It is not like a switch that gets turned On or Off. It is a dial. So it is very likely that you will recognize that sound is happening, but not be able to discern its meaning. Aside form the very basics or sirens or alarms, what good does that really do you? Very little compared to admitting there is a real problem and seeking a proper solution. Hearing is not the same as comprehending.
This kid of attempt to Pretend The Problem Away only leads to frustration and confusion. It is hardly even a choice, we all have such trouble enduring frustration and confusion, of course you are likely to begin to remove yourself from situations in which there are conversations you may have trouble following. It becomes fatiguing to work so hard just to keep up with what people are saying. Such social withdrawal of course creates a simple path to loneliness. And loneliness obviously leads to depression. And once this stage is reached, obviously depression makes it difficult to muster the will to even imagine your circumstances being improved. There is a situation now in which so much more requires repair.
It is simple to see the cost that hearing loss has on our relationships, our professional opportunities, and overall sense of satisfaction. Make an appointment with one of our trained specialists today and take back your life.