Each year, the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) dedicates an entire month to talking about communication disorders and encouraging people to seek treatment. Every May is Better Speech and Hearing Month, and the theme for 2018 is Communication for All. The ASHA uses this month to advocate for reducing the stigma around disorders like hearing loss and promoting awareness of communication disorders. To learn more about the Better Speech and Hearing initiative, visit the ASHA website at http://www.asha.org/bhsm/, and for communication made easy, it’s time to talk about hearing aids.
Struggling with Hearing Loss
If you’ve been struggling to hear, you know how hard it is to follow conversations, or keep up with the jokes being tossed around the dinner table. You can hardly hear the TV, and when you go for a walk the sounds around you seem muffled. Have you missed your phone ringing one too many times this week, or been frustrated by having to ask people to repeat themselves over and over again? If you always turn your good ear towards a sound to try to hear it better, or suffer from tinnitus, that uncomfortable ringing or buzzing in your ears, then its clear that you are struggling with hearing loss.
Hearing Loss and Communication
Hearing loss might not seem like a big deal at first, but it will soon affect your ability to communicate with friends and loved ones. Your family has been getting frustrated by having to repeat everything several times to make you understand, and you avoid going out to meet friends. If you’re invited out to dinner with a group, you often choose to say home rather than admit that you can’t follow the conversations happening around the table, especially with all that background noise. Even during trips to the grocery store or meeting friends for coffee, hearing loss comes between you and communication.
Then why do so many people ignore these signs, and delay treating their hearing loss? Anthony Watts was just like you, and rather than wearing a hearing device, he chose to live with 85% hearing loss and let his inability to hear take over his life and ruin his relationships. He and his entire family were affected by this decision as communication continued to break down even more.
How a Hearing Device Can Change Your Life
When Anthony finally went for a hearing test, he found out he had severe hearing loss, and his hearing had deteriorated far more than he’d imagined. He chose to invest in a powerful, completely-in-canal hearing device. These hearing aids sit snuggly within the ear canal and are barely noticeable, but still provide enough power to treat severe hearing loss. From one day to the next, hearing aids allowed him to communicate easily with his family and friends, improve relationships, strengthen friendships, and turn his life around. He’s no longer struggling with social isolation or staying at home alone but communicating easily. With hearing aids, you’ll never have to ask someone to repeat themselves, or deal with the embarrassment of answering inappropriately, but can enjoy clear hearing.
Communicating in Noisy Locations
To try out his new hearing devices, Anthony decided to get out of the house, and see what his hearing aids could do, so he accepted an invitation to dinner with friends. The restaurant was crowded, the TV was blaring, and everyone was making a lot of noise. When the server came to take their order, Anthony was completely blown away! For the first time in years, he could hear as she told them the specials, and could order easily with no miscommunications.
Communication Made Easy
For communication made easy, visit us today the Neighborhood Hearing Aid Center, where we’ve got you covered when it comes to hearing health. From the hearing test to fittings and maintenance, you can rest assured that you’re getting the best in hearing care. Don’t settle for struggling to order a coffee or getting frustrated every time you try to talk on the phone. This May, participate in Better Speech and Hearing Month by coming in and seeing what a hearing aid can do for you. Treat your hearing loss to repair relationships, make new connections, get back to being social, and restore communication.