Reflections on The Loss of Hearing

 Rogelio G. Balo Ph.D.

Prologue

*Research studies have concluded ‘that approximately 1 in 3 people between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss and nearly half of those older than 75 has difficulty hearing. In the US alone close to 35 million Americans, about 1.1 million of them are school-age children*

Hearing loss is a common problem caused by noise, aging, disease, and heredity. Some of the signs of hearing loss, which many people don’t realize include having trouble hearing over the telephone, asking often other people to repeat what they are saying’, the need to turn up the TV volume so loud for others, and thinking that others seem to mumble.

"Audiology experts concluded that hearing loss comes in many forms. It can range from a mild loss, in which a person misses certain high-pitched sounds, such as the voices of women and children, to a total loss of hearing."

Age-related hearing loss comes on gradually as a person gets older. It seems to run in families and may occur because of changes in the inner ear and auditory nerve. Age-related hearing loss usually occurs in both ears, affecting them equally. The loss is gradual, so someone with presbycusis may not realize that he or she has lost some of his or her ability to hear.”

My Own Hearing Loss

I have observed a mild loss of hearing at the age of 68 in 2010 when I was still working with the Bacolod City government.  At first, I was trying to internalize feelings of just a negligible hearing difficulty. But since my job as City Administrator requires me to react with the City Mayor and other high officials of the city government on a daily basis I was overwhelmed with denial, anger, annoyance and embarrassment on the outset of my deteriorating hearing condition.

During meetings and conferences, I pretended to be without a hearing impairment although I normally would go through a series of ill feelings including mild depression and oftentimes tend to withdraw from others because I easily get feel frustrated or embarrassed. Sometimes, because of my denial of a potential hearing loss I had entertained negative thoughts of others defining my inactions in meetings to be confused, unresponsive.

Finally, I had passed the “denial” stage and had accepted the fact that I have a hearing loss, a real breakthrough in my life as an elderly person. In my mind, I’ve felt relief that I have come to consider my loss of hearing as a part of life and willing to confront the profound impacts whatsoever. For me I believe that my acceptance to life’s reality and recognizing the trials and tribulations of inadequate hearing will construct the bridge to the healing process of my hearing loss.

Fortunately, it was my wife who insisted for me to undergo an Audiology (hearing) test and convinced me to get hearing aids (lucky me…at her expense). (I got my first set of hearing aids in 2011 and got my second set, (top of the class)  in 2014 )

At first, wearing hearing aids had given me annoying discomfort like I was hit by a ton of brick, a bitter pill to swallow. I had this nasty feeling of being different from others what with a pair of hearing aids stuck in my ears. Although the “change of feelings” is an imposing challenge, that is anger into calmness, frustration into understanding and embarrassment into delight, I was able to adjust my feelings, interactions and reactions in my daily life to temper the negative effects of wearing hearing aids. I had relied in my belief on the principle of “trade off”, that in order to achieve something, you have to give up something else, as simple as that.

Conclusion 

How anyone deals with hearing loss probably parallels with how he or she deals with life. A person with a hearing loss should seriously consider that the failure to change one’s condition by not seeking help for his or her hearing loss is linked with a myriad of emotional issues, some permanent, but most preventable.

As most will agree, aging often correlates to isolation since it becomes more difficult to go out, with less enthusiasm and energy, whereby we lose friends and relatives, finding ourselves isolated.

Untreated hearing loss compounds the situation of elderly people. Social phobias often develop from untreated hearing loss. Persons with hearing loss have always felt the anxiety or persistent fear of social environments in which embarrassment may occur. Many other emotions surrounding hearing loss include anger, depression, selfishness, resentment and rejection, among others.

Unfortunately, research data showed that only 20% of people suffering with hearing loss seek treatment through the use of hearing aids. This speaks volumes of what spouses had to endure. It does not only mean louder television, repetition of words through the day, missing parts of important conversations, etc. This raises the level of anxiety in a healthy spouse married to someone with a hearing loss. A spouse may develop his or her own anxiety around the issues which can start with annoyance and lead to anger, intolerance and even depression.

With this in mind, it becomes an inspiring role for the family to convince the family member with hearing loss to develop the readiness to accept the situation and seek appropriate medical treatment through the use of hearing aids.  Nowadays, the incessant advancement on technologies includes the improvements in hearing aids design and circuitry, rendering them smarter and prettier.

With the advent of telecommunications devices such as Bluetooth cell phone systems, wearing in the ear these days is at best passe’ and even fashionable. Today it’s hard to tell the difference between telecommunications devices and some state-of-the-art hearing aids culminating in profound social change, a shift in thinking by both wearers and observers whereby the stigma for wearing these devices that looked like hearing aids is almost gone.