Hearing Aids Vs Glasses – Why the Drama with Hearing Aids? Guest Post & Case Study
It has been a pleasure working with Gina, she came to me around a year ago as she was losing clarity in her hearing. She attended one of my Hearing & Brain Health seminars and was shocked by the statistics and discrepancies around treatment rates of vision vs hearing loss. As a professional copywriter, she kindly offered to share her perspective in the form of a guest post and case study. I hope you find this helpful – Best Regards Andrew
Hearing Aids Vs Glasses – Why the Drama with Hearing Aids?
Why is it that when someone is told they need glasses, they accept it as a fact of life but when told they need hearing aids, they go into panic mode? Both situations warrant medical intervention, and both are caused by the degeneration of an organ (well, a pair of organs), yet one seems to evoke so much more concern than the other. People are often shocked by the news that they need hearing aids but fully accept it when told they need to wear glasses. Glasses are seen not just as an important tool to correct vision but as a fashion accessory, while hearing aids seem to be viewed more as a medical prosthetic.
At age 51, I was told I needed to wear hearing aids and it did indeed come as a great shock to me. No one in my family had ever worn them. That doesn’t mean they didn’t need to, just that they’d never been diagnosed with hearing loss!
Noticing the decline in my hearing
I’d been aware that my hearing was a bit ‘iffy’. When watching TV with others, they’d complain the volume was too loud, so I’d turn it down but not be able to pay attention. In conversation, I was constantly asking people to repeat what they were saying, and I noticed I’d started watching mouths instead of making eye contact.
My hearing loss diagnosis
A sinus infection led to me having my ears cleaned but I didn’t notice the kind of improvement in my hearing that I’d experienced other times. Ultimately, I had my hearing tested and Andrew diagnosed me with mild hearing loss. He explained that I’d need hearing aids and the thought was initially quite a shock. I felt a bit broken-down and sad that I would now have to depend on devices for the rest of my life. For me, it took a little while to come to terms with it, whilst others have experienced euphoria at finally understanding the reason for their hearing-related problems. I guess, when we reach a certain age, our mortality starts to come into full focus and the invincibility we once felt begins to evaporate, bit by bit. BUT!
When Andrew showed me the devices and explained their functionality, I began to get excited. I remembered back to the day when, at age 21, I was told I’d need to wear glasses and was presented with a kaleidoscope of different styles, shapes and colours. Hearing aids aren’t what you’d call a fashion accessory, but boy do they improve your world!
Crazy-smart, high-tech gadgets for hearing
And let me tell you about the functionality. Mine are Bluetooth-enabled so they connect with my smartphone. That means I can listen to music via Spotify, talk on the phone and receive notifications, all hands-free, even if my phone is on the other side of the room! They’re rechargeable so I simply pop them in the charger every night before I get into bed, and there’s no need to keep buying and fiddling with batteries.
As for the appearance of my hearing aids, well to be honest, no one has ever mentioned them unprompted, not once! I often wear my hair up in a bun so they should realistically be visible. Even when I mention them, people are amazed and say they had no idea I had them on.
Gone are the days of the big, ugly hearing aids that seemed almost like a sign flashing: “I’m hard of hearing! I’m hard of hearing! I’m hard of hearing!” Besides, hearing aids are designed to make you not hard of hearing so they’re a bit of false advertising. When I show people my beautiful devices and tell them about the smart functionality, they’re often amazed and dare I say, maybe even a bit envious? I like to echo the words of YouTuber Mat Hench, who says: “My hearing aids are cooler than your AirPods!”
Of course, no one wants to find themselves with hearing loss but if it does happen, be comforted in the fact that help is available and it’s not the big, dramatic disaster it might first appear to be. Just as you’ll pop your glasses on your face to enjoy clearer vision, you simply slip your hearing aids into your ears and enjoy clarity, less listening effort and the wonder of sound!
As YouTuber Mat also says: “You have bad eyes; you get glasses. You have bad ears; you get hearing aids.” It really is that simple. Have your hearing tested, see an independent expert, take the recommended steps and get on with life.
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