Quick Stats:

Name: Mrs L.

Age bracket: +50yo 

Likes: describes herself as a social butterfly and loves her family. 

Dislikes: a bad coffee.

Audiology need to know: has hearing loss from earlier age, tells me it was her partner who asked her to get her hearing checked as they noticed her hearing changes.

Hearing aids & benefits: yes, been a dedicated hearing aid wearer for decades.

 

As always, thank you to Mrs. L for allowing me to share her story. We hope you find some value in reading about the experience. We wish you well on your hearing and ear journey.

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Mrs L tells me,  "I Can't live without my hearing aids. As soon as I take them off.. everything goes dull. I wear my hearing aids as soon as I am awake. As soon as I've showered, after that, they go in." I feel privileged to support Mrs L. hearing health and aural rehab journey. I enjoy the stories she tells me about the people in her life who say that hearing aids make them feel old. She says, "People ask how can you wear hearing aids, and I think, Heck, if you can't wear them all the time why have them? They are a necessity!!" She tells me her brain is sharper and she follows conversations with much less effort.

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Mrs. L is insightful. She admits at the beginning it was confronting to think in her fifty's she was recommended hearing aids. She questioned, "how could this be? I am only in my fifties. Aren't hearing aids for older people?"

 

She reflects upon her time and says that she can tell when people have a hearing loss as they behaviour differently, especially in places like restaurants (which she enjoys going to often). Mrs L says "when you don't take care of your hearing health and use hearing aids, you look old. You are missing out on conversations, you look silly for nodding when it's not the right time and so on." She admits she was in this space before becoming confident with hearing aids.

 

"I would be lost if I didn't have my hearing aids. This is my 3rd or 4th lot....Technology of hearing aids have improved greatly. I've experienced all levels of technology and feel they add benefit and value all the time." 

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Mrs. L's hearing health story has not been without it's changes and challenges. She said the technology is changing, the speech processing is improving and pairing them with your smartphone has added value. Mrs. L says she likes that I am an available audiologist, and communicates via other mediums (not just the phone). She says, "I am confident on my phone, but I am an experienced hearing aid wearer, I can't imagine if you are new to hearing aids and have waited many years to get them, how you have been coping on the phone." Challenges such as getting her charger wet and then not having her hearing charged were annoying. Losing one hearing aid and then finding it again after an extended period of time with only one hearing was annoying (I set her up with loan hearing aids to ensure she didn't go without that sound clarity). Luckily, Mrs. L found the missing hearing aid.

 

Hearing aids are certainly an incredible piece of medical grade technology that can help with hearing loss and hearing issues, but they are only part of the solution. What I want you to take home from this piece is the following:

1. Find an audiologist you can work with for life. Hearing health that requires hearing aid use requires an on-going partnership. This means you need to wear the hearing aids and practice using them everyday and your audiologist needs to be doing real ear measurements and validations to help you hear as well as can be done through technology, they also need to provide counselling.

2. The earlier you do something about your hearing health, the better the long term outcomes (continued social connection,  less frustrations from you and your family from having to repeat themselves, brain health). Don't wait 9 years to do something.

3. Active listening and good communication behaviours are key to outcomes. 

4. Practice, practice and practice wearing your hearing aids everyday and using the app to become confident with hearing aid settings. 

5. Go back to your audiologist to get 'real world adjustments or hearing aid adjustments'. If you ever feel like your hearing aids will end up in the draw, that is a strong sign you need to see your audiologist ASAP.​