Did you know May is Better Hearing month? This month is dedicated to raising awareness about hearing and hearing disorders. In acknowledgement of better hearing month I want to share these common concerns and one of the key recommendations that I provide. I do not consider these recommendations to be the only thing that can be used to address these concerns, but rather the starting place to improve hearing and communication.
1. “My spouse always asks me to repeat… I don’t think the hearing aids are working.”
This one can be a challenging concern, especially depending on the severity of hearing impairment and maybe the hearing aids really are malfunctioning. However, there is one thing I want to know more about: what was happening when the request for repetition occurred? When we dive into this I often learn that there was a movie on or the person with a hearing impairment was focused on a book or dinner prep.
For any person, especially one with a hearing impairment, when our attention is focused on an activity, it can be challenging to suddenly start to listen to a random or unexpected conversation. By the time our brain registers that there is a conversation present, we’ve missed the first several words and may not have enough information to fill in what was missed during the change of attention from activity to conversation. This absent initial information may lead to the request to repeat what was said.
When this is the primary concern, this is the one recommendation I hope is remembered: say the person’s name or get their attention (i.e. a shoulder tap) before starting a conversation. By ensuring the listener’s attention, we can significantly decrease the amount of repetition needed and decrease frustration for both individuals.
2. “I wear my hearing aids when I’m out and about, but they don’t work very well.”
Like most things, there is a lot that can impact how well we hear in different settings. Commonly, when this concern comes up, I find out that an individual is using their hearing aids when they feel they are “needed” and often not using them at home or in more simple environments. The world is a very noisy place. From restaurants to grocery stores, there is noise all around us. The ears take in our noisy world, but the brain processes and makes sense of the world. Hearing aids allow the ear to have access to sound at appropriate levels and offer support for the brain, but they cannot do all of the processing in place of the brain. For the brain, listening in complex or noisy environments is like running a marathon. We cannot wake up one day and easily run a marathon without training. For some, an individual may be able to complete the marathon without training, but it would likely be with significant difficulty or exhaustion. Therefore if we do not train our brain with simple hearing, it is hard to imagine our brain will be ready for the marathon of complex hearing (restaurants or noisy situations).
The one recommendation I hope is remembered when this is the primary concern: Wear your hearing aids during all waking hours from the time you wake to the time you go to bed. By doing this and hearing the simple sounds of your footsteps, the dishwasher running, or even that squeaky door hinge, you are allowing your brain to train and acclimate to sound with the hearing aids so it has more practice and endurance for the complex environments in the future.
3. “I’ve tried every setting in my hearing aid app… What else can I do to better my hearing in a restaurant?”
Sometimes the simplest solution can have the largest impact. I hear you when you say you’ve tried different hearing aid options available in your app, and I know it is frustrating when you are missing conversation while out to eat. Have you thought about where you are sitting at the table? This recommendation can be a little counter intuitive… One of the most powerful tools hearing aids have to help with background noise is directional microphones. Directional microphones are when the hearing aids activate at least 2 mics to help you hear more in front of you and less behind you. If you are in a noisy restaurant and sit with your back to a wall or corner, all the conversation from your table and the rest of the restaurant is coming straight at you and to that front microphone, essentially eliminating the ability for the directional microphones to give you any help.
The one recommendation I hope is remembered when this is the primary concern: As much as possible, sit in the seat that allows the conversations you want to hear to be in front of you with the rest of the noise of the restaurant to be behind you. This will allow your hearing aids to maximize the help they can provide via the directional microphone system.
Already using these recommendations? EXCELLENT! Keep it up! These recommendations are not the only solution for these concerns, but they do provide an excellent place to start. For this Better Hearing month, I hope solutions can be found to improve your communication. Let’s schedule you an appointment with one of our audiologists to take a deeper dive into your communication needs and guide you on your hearing healthcare journey.
