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Treating hearing loss with hearing aids is one of the best ways to maintain our overall health and well-being for the long term. Research over the course of the past several decades indicates that hearing loss tends to engender a cascade of negative health outcomes that can be avoided with the use of hearing aids.
Regular Hearing Tests
To that end, the Better Hearing Institute, a non-profit organization, recommends that everyone get a hearing test once a decade until age 50, and once every three years after that. Regular hearing tests throughout life will help you keep better track of your hearing health. Since we don’t often realize we have hearing loss until it has become relatively pronounced, a hearing test can give us an early warning that we need to change something in order to better preserve our hearing, and if hearing aids are recommended it’s important to start wearing them.
Hearing Loss Is Not the End of the World
Hearing loss is not the end of the world, nor does it often progress to the point of deafness. In fact, most of the time, hearing loss will become more pronounced for a while and then stabilize at some point. What that point is or how long it takes is different for every individual, but the important thing is to start treating hearing loss as soon as it starts presenting a problem. Changes take place in the brain that make the adjustment to hearing aids, and possibly a return to one’s normal lifestyle, much more difficult as hearing loss goes untreated.
People Like Their Hearing Aids!
People who get hearing aids tend to appreciate them. When asked after one year, about 95% of people report being satisfied with their hearing aids! Those who get hearing aids report that memory problems become less significant, they spend more time outdoors, and they enjoy socializing much more.
Why People Avoid Hearing Aids
When hearing aids can do so much to let us keep enjoying the activities and people we love, why are so many people resistant to getting them?
Common themes that tend to come up include stigma and expense. Let’s take a look at each of these, separately.
Stigma
Stigma is perhaps the most important reason. People say things like, “Hearing aids are for old people, and I’m not old!” We’re often resistant to engage with something that we think says something bad about us, like that we’re “old” or “disabled.” The thing is, hearing aids paradoxically allow us to feel younger and more capable when we’re wearing them. By restoring our ability to hear, we can feel safer and more confident as we move about the world, and we can engage freely in conversation without having to try so hard to keep up. Those who are embarrassed about wearing hearing aids can opt for IIC (invisible-in-the-canal) models which are virtually impossible to see while they’re being worn.
Expense
Hearing aids are incredibly powerful instruments, and they are not cheap. One can expect to pay $2000 or more per hearing aid, and most people require two. Where the march of technology has brought down the price of many consumer goods, hearing aids tend to increase in price as the smallest, most sophisticated implementations of new technologies tend to go into them. While this is good news for hearing aid wearers, it is not as good for their pocketbooks.
Still, some insurance companies will cover the costs of hearing aids, and Medicare will do the same in some (but not all) states. Veterans can take advantage of financial assistance from the VA. Still, most people are on their own to cover the costs. If there is any way to afford it, the benefits for health and well-being are well worth it.
Schedule a Hearing Test!
Too many people (about 1 in 5) allow hearing loss to slow them down, when it doesn’t have to. While the onset of hearing loss can be a frightening or worrying time, we can tell you that it doesn’t have to be. Many people with hearing loss are living just about the same as they always did with the assistance of a good set of hearing aids. If you’re having difficulty hearing, schedule a hearing test today and find out what hearing aids can do to keep you going strong long into the future!