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Hearing Loss and the Hard of Hearing: Identifying, Understanding and Coping
Do you know:
- 24 million people in the U.S. have a hearing loss.
- 30 of every one thousand school age children have a hearing loss.
- By age 65, one out of three people has a hearing loss.
- 78% of hard of hearing people experience their loss in adulthood.
- 75% of people who could benefit from hearing aids are not using them.
- People with hearing loss wait for an average of seven years before seeking help?
- Isolation, withdrawal, and depression are common reactions to hearing loss.
- Hearing impaired people have a much higher divorce rate than hearing people.
Common signs of hearing loss:
- You may hear but not understand people.
- You may have difficulty understanding radio, television or public address systems.
- You need to watch a person's lips in order to understand.
- You find yourself asking people them to repeat what they have said.
- You may pretend to understand.
- You may avoid people and isolate yourself.
- You may find it emotionally and physically exhausting to communicate.
- It appears that you are the only one who has these difficulties.
Hearing Aids
Hearing aids are too often a last resort, tried long after experiencing much frustration, withdrawal, denial, bluffing and avoiding.
Contrary to some advertisements, hearing aids do not make your hearing normal; they are just part of the solution. Many people give up when the hearing aid doesn't solve the problem immediately. Coping successfully with hearing loss requires many adjustments and changes, giving up old habits and learning new ones. This learning process cannot be accomplished in isolation; you need support, information, and resources.
Assistive Listening Devices
Hearing aids alone are not adequate in many environments, such as cars, airplanes, restaurants, theatres, hospitals, churches, and classrooms, due to background noise, proximity to speaker, volume, and acoustics.
In addition, hearing aids alone are often inadequate for understanding speech on the telephone and television.
Fortunately, electronic technology and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have combined to effectively increase access to public accommodations, television closed captioning, and telephone devices, all free of charge to the hearing impaired. There are a variety of assistive listening devices (ALDs) for different situations and settings and many offer ALDs upon request. However, many settings that are required by law to provide ALDs don't have them yet, partially because not enough people have requested them. Only a small percentage of hearing impaired people are knowledgeable about ALDs and assertive about asking for them. All hospitals, churches, theatres, etc., will provide ALDs when people demand them.
If you are hard of hearing, you need to know
- Why you don't hear well.
- How to tell others.
- How to get help.
- How to use and protect your hearing.
- How to use Assistive Listening Devices.
- How to use your hearing aids successfully.
- How hearing loss affects you and your relationships.
- How to create an environment where you can hear.
- What the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) means to you
- How to assert your ADA rights in public places and on the job
The consequences of hearing loss are many.
- First, the emotional consequences are anxiety, depression, negativism, irritability, embarrassment, frustration, anger, low self-esteem, and impatience.
- The social consequences are avoidance, silence, rejection, loss of intimacy, boredom, withdrawal, misunderstandings, conflict, and misinformation.
- Last, the physical consequences are indigestion, tension, headaches, high blood pressure, fatigue, heart disease, low tolerance for loud noises, and endangerment.
You need to teach others how to communicate with a hearing impaired person:
- Do not shout.
- Stand in clear light.
- Face the person directly.
- Speak slowly and clearly.
- Rephrase a misunderstood sentence.
- Move away from background noise.
- Do not obscure your mouth with hands, food, etc.
- Ask what you can do to make conversation easier.
Help
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People Inc. [SHHH] is a volunteer, international organization of people with hearing loss, their relatives and friends. It is a nonprofit, nonsectarian, educational organization devoted to the welfare and interests of those who cannot hear well but are committed to participation in the hearing world.
SHHH is the largest international consumer organization dedicated to the well being of people who do not hear well.
SHHH believes that people can help one another, be helped, and participate successfully in society. Its primary mission is to educate about hearing loss and what can be done about it. Members work to develop options for themselves and open doors for others. SHHH encourages self-help to bridge the gap between those who can't hear well and those who can.
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1200
Bethesda, MD 20814
Voice: 301.657.2248
TTY: 301.657.2249
Fax: 301.913.9413
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