Denton County Living Well Magazine July/August 2019 | Page 43
EFFECTS OF HEARING LOSS ON A PATIENT’S
LIFE AND HOW TO BETTER COMMUNICATE!
By Elizabeth Brassine, Au.D.
We think of the obvious effect of
hearing loss with regard to commu-
nication difficulties. However, your
hearing health contributes to your
overall well-being and quality of life.
Statistically, hearing loss is the third
most prevalent chronic condition in
older Americans after hypertension
and arthritis. Aging also brings cog-
nitive processing deficits that interfere
with communication and can create
distractions that lead to memory loss,
falls and other accidents. Let’s exam-
ine these effects.
ily and friends. They are also likely to
report depression, anxiety, anger and
frustration. The degree of depression
or other emotional or mental health is-
sues also increases with the severity of
the hearing loss.
Tinnitus and Hearing Loss:
Tinnitus or “ringing in the ear” affects
up to 50 million Americans. Ninety
percent of people with tinnitus also
have hearing loss. The most common
causes of tinnitus are: noise exposure,
aging, head injury and medication
side effects.
Memory and Hearing Loss: Income and Hearing Loss:
Adults with hearing loss are more like-
ly to develop problems thinking and
remembering than adults with normal
hearing. Also, adults with hearing loss
develop a significant impairment in
their cognitive abilities 3.2 years soon-
er than those with normal hearing. It’s
believed that untreated, degraded
hearing may force the brain to devote
too much of its energy/resources to
processing sound. Statistics show that people with untreat-
ed hearing loss lose up to $30,000
annually. Adults with hearing loss,
who wear hearing aids, have a low-
er unemployment rate than those who
don’t.
Dementia and Hearing Loss:
Seniors with hearing loss are signifi-
cantly more likely to develop dementia
over time than those who retain their
hearing or treat their hearing loss. It
appears that this effect increases as
the amount of hearing loss increases.
Falling and Hearing Loss: People with
mild hearing loss are three times more
likely to have a history of falling. Each
additional increase of hearing loss by
10 decibels increases the chance of
falling by 1.4 times the original risk.
Mental Health and Hearing Loss:
Hearing loss results in social isolation.
Adults with untreated hearing loss tend
to withdraw from engaging with fam-
So, hearing loss can affect your life
in many ways. You may miss out on
talks with friends and family. Some-
times hearing problems can make you
feel embarrassed, upset and lonely.
It’s easy to withdraw when you can’t
follow a conversation. It’s also easy
for friends and family to think you are
confused, uncaring or difficult when
the problem may be that you just can’t
hear well.
We often get asked in our office by
friends and family, especially when fit-
ting a new patient with hearing aids,
how to best communicate with them.
So, we thought we’d share some tips
on how to communicate with a hear-
ing impaired person:
1. Face the person and talk clearly (not
while walking away from the person or
while looking in cabinets, refrigerators,
etc.).
2. Speak at a reasonable speed, often
slowing down how you speak is more
beneficial than raising your voice.
3. Do not hide your mouth (so much
speech information comes from non-ver-
bal cues and facial expressions) or talk
while eating or chewing gum.
4. Stand in good lighting.
5. Reduce background noises.
6. Use facial expressions or gestures to
give useful cues.
7. Repeat yourself if necessary, using dif-
ferent words.
8. Include the hearing-impaired person
when talking. Talk with the person, not
about the person when you are with
others. This helps keep the person with
hearing loss from feeling alone and
excluded.
9. Be patient; stay positive and relaxed.
10. Ask how you can help!
Also important, here are some tips of
what the hearing impaired person can
do to improve their communication
with hearing aids:
1. Let people know that you have difficulty
hearing.
2. Ask people to face you and to speak
slowly and clearly. Ask them to speak
without shouting, which can just distort
the speech signal.
3. Pay attention to what is being said and
to facial expressions or gestures.
4. Let the person talking know if you do
not understand.
5. Ask people to reword a sentence and
try again.
6. Turn off any unnecessary, extraneous
noises (such as the radio while in a car,
a TV at home, etc.).
7. Wear your hearing aids consistently!
To hear better, is to live better! Start
a better health and wellness conver-
sation today! Better hearing health is
possible! Call your audiologist today!
Elizabeth Brassine is a Doctor of audiology and owner of Hearing Services of McKinney.
DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | JULY/AUGUST 2019
41