When I was a child, some of my most cherished memories were family get togethers. I was blessed with a great family and I loved those times.  We had lots of food, and we were pretty serious about whatever games we played – ping pong, volley ball, basketball, Rook, etc. Relationships are built on experiences and communication.

Unfortunately, as people age, they often lose the keen ability to hear that they once had as a child. This process happens slowly, over time, and is often not noticeable for a while. But there comes a day when you add in the presence of background noise (multiple voices, music), and understanding speech is no longer an easy thing. There are only so many times a person can continually say, ‘what did you say?’, or ‘Huh’ before it becomes obvious to the people around that hearing is not necessarily going that well.

This situation is handled in a variety of ways. One person tries to avoid these difficult listening activities all together while another person just smiles and nods their head, as if they actually heard what was just said. The most difficult example might be when someone tells a joke, and they actually speak the punch line ‘softly’ for effect.  Everyone else in the room busts out laughing, but the person with hearing loss has to either fake it or else just accept that they did not hear it.

Hearing aid technology has come so far in a relatively short period of time.  Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss, and many try to stay in the ‘denial’ stage way too long.  I would consider it ‘too long’ if relationships suffer due to communication break-down, or if wonderful family gatherings are not considered that ‘wonderful’ due to hearing difficulties. Helen Keller compared blindness to cutting us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people.

I hope your Thanksgiving is a great time with friends and family this year!  Hearing aids are certainly a solution for the hearing impaired to actually hear the conversation around the table.  If you are on the fence about whether you want to make that step, you can wear a set of programmable hearing aids for a few days and find out the true benefit.  I would love to help you make a positive change with your hearing.

Belinda Fairbanks
Licensed Hearing Aid Dealer