Hearing Aids 101: Helping Your Loved One Cope with Hearing Loss

March 18, 2020

Having a friend or family member with hearing loss can be challenging. To assist the individuals you genuinely care for; it is essential to create a support system that can help show them that there is a path to better hearing. With a detailed understanding, you should be able to assist your loved ones.
Image via Adobe Stock, by toa555
Learn What It Is Like to Live Like Them
It is well known that hearing loss may put a major strain on different relationships, thereby causing stress and hurting the feelings of the affected over miscommunication. If you get frustrated, then the one single thing you can do to ease the burden is to learn what hearing loss is. Try to empathize with such people and put yourself in a position where you can relate to what the loved one is going through when it comes to their hearing experience. This exercise can help you increase your patience.
Advocate for Your Loved Ones
One factor you need to consider in showing your support for your loved one with hearing loss is becoming their sole advocate. For instance, it may be difficult for an individual with such a challenge to hear in group situations, regardless of the event, because of the noise from the background. Before joining a family gathering, you may email other relatives to equip them with a few tips coupled with tactics to assist in fostering a successful communication with the individual with a hearing loss. During dinner, you can sit next to the loved one and let them know they can always garner information from you if they have missed a line.
Learn How to Buy New Hearing Aids
There are different types of hearing aids. For that reason, it might be challenging to choose the best one on the market. But that would be easy if you learn more about how to buy hearing aids, including style and price. That said, hearing aids widely vary in size too. They come with special features depending on how they are placed in the ear. You can always go for the smallest one since it is less visible in your loved one’s ear. The designers of these hearing aids tend to meet the demand for a device that is not easily noticeable.
Exercise Patience and Empathy
Understanding patience, as well as empathy, is essential. People make mistakes when they are not understood by others with hearing disabilities. For example, they can repeat the same words, but louder. Other people think that if you yell at the loved one, they may do better, but they do not. They only get to do better if you happen to rephrase it.
Without a doubt, the most significant support you can offer a person living with a hearing disability is to create awareness about the subject and take the first initiative when it comes to addressing it. As you grow older, you need to be active about your health and be on the lookout for any changes in your body. You can achieve these by making important health checks as you grow older.
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