Listen Up! Reasons to Consider Hearing Aids
When someone wears glasses we don’t think twice about it. We don’t think it makes them look older and in fact, some research has found that eyeglass wearers are seen as “higher in intelligence, dependability, industriousness, and honesty”.
So if eyewear has this positive an image, why do hearing aids have just the opposite?
Hearing aids have had a bad rap for a very long time.
In fact, it was discovered that people perceived people wearing hearing aids as; older, less communicative, less confident, less intelligent and less friendly.
And as for the people who used hearing aids, they often saw them as being a nuisance, expensive and frankly just not worth the time or effort.
I can see this. I remember my grandmother’s hearing aids years back. They were this large beige block in her ear that seemed to always be making some type of whistling sound. She was forever twisting the setting to try and make it work right for her. In her case, this device really did look like a hassle and possibly not worth the effort.
But hearing aids have come a long way over the years.
Not long ago, my 88 year old father-in-law was outfitted with a pair of hearing aids and I was amazed at how much they have changed. They were rechargeable, Bluetooth enabled, programmable to different types of settings and came with a remote control for volume and location changes.
You could barely see them and the impact of wearing them was amazing. He went from experiencing quite a significant hearing loss to almost hearing everything perfectly. The change was massive.
Hearing loss is not uncommon.
In fact, it is one of the most common conditions affecting older and elderly adults.
According to the National Institute of Health,
“approximately one in three people in the United States between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing.”.
This means that from the age of 65 to 75, 33% to 50% will experience some type of hearing problem.
Now if this hasn't motivated you yet to get your hearing checked, maybe this next point might move you to action.
The Canadian Alzheimer’s Association shared;
“...a growing body of evidence emphasizes the importance of hearing health as a key component of healthy aging. Large-scale research projects conducted in the U.S., France, Australia and other countries have shown that hearing loss is a major risk factor for dementia.…"
They further point out that it may be that hearing loss could cause an increased risk to social isolation or depression which may be a risk factor for dementia.
So given that hearing is such an important part of our lives – both for our overall social well being and now even potentially our brain health too, I think we need to shift our outdated views of hearing aids and accept the help that they offer.
Afterall, anything that can help us better age well would be a benefit don’t you think?
