I first noticed my diminished hearing about 10 years ago while training customer facing people. At the time it became a little difficult to hear them talking to customers from my normal distance. As the years went by my hearing got worse. But I was focused on the advantages of not hearing well.
The Advantages of Poor Hearing
Selective Hearing
This conversation with Joyce will suffice. One Friday evening she came home from work…
Joyce: “Why aren’t you dressed for the party?”
Me: “What party?”
Joyce: “You must not have heard me tell you we are supposed to go to a party tonight. Well, it’s too late now. We’ll just have to skip it.”
Me: <thinking to myself> Great!
Modern Problems of Technology
Today technology such as computers, tablets, and smart phones has become barriers to interpersonal communication. In stores and other places of business employees often don’t make eye contact with customers, instead they are focused on a screen, often talking into the screen and not directing their voices to the person they should be talking to. Some people spend so much time on screens they have difficulty making eye contact. Sometimes I notice these folks, when away from a screen, still don’t make eye contact instead they are looking down at their feet!
People don’t realize they do this and their customers who are hearing impaired can’t hear them speak. Often, when I point this out to them, they make an effort to to change. It makes them better communicators, improves customer satisfaction and benefits the business.
Background Noise
It can be a relief not being able to hear chimes, chirps, squeaks, sirens, leaf blowers, airplanes, ringing phones, and all the other noises that inundate our lives.
The Disadvantages of Poor Hearing
It got to the point where I stopped going to movies because I couldn’t hear the dialogue. Of course at home, I could just increase the volume.
In conversations, even if I could hear most of the words, some words sounded mumbled and I lost the meaning of the entire conversation.
People get frustrated with you. That didn’t bother me much, except for family members and friends.
Wake Up Call
A couple years ago, on a backpacking trip, a good friend was very blunt with me. He pointed out that I couldn’t hear during a group conversation and tended to interrupt and speak over others. He said that my handicap was frustrating others, but it wasn’t really a handicap, it was my refusal to do something about it!
Thanks to him, I decided to get hearing aids. I also learned a lot about hearing loss.
Hearing and Hearing Aid Facts
First of all, hearing aids are expensive. The average cost runs between $5,000 and $7,000. Most health insurance plans, to include Medicare, do not cover hearing aids. Part of this is due to the perception that hearing loss isn’t a “medical problem.” However, this is changing.
Here are some facts from an article in the New York Times, Hearing Loss Threatens Mind, Life and Limb.
QUOTES
Not only is poor hearing annoying and inconvenient for millions of people, especially the elderly. It is also an unmistakable health hazard, threatening mind, life and limb, that could cost Medicare much more than it would to provide hearing aids and services for every older American with hearing loss.
In one of the studies that covered 154,414 adults 50 and older who had health insurance claims, researchers at Johns Hopkins found that untreated hearing loss increased the risk of developing dementia by 50 percent and depression by 40 percent in just five years when compared to those without hearing loss.
The article continues…
An analysis of the voluminous data by Nicholas S. Reed and colleagues linked untreated hearing loss to more and longer hospitalizations and readmissions and more visits to an emergency room.
Within 10 years, untreated hearing loss accounted for 3.2 percent of all cases of dementia, 3.57 percent of people significantly injured in a fall, and 6.88 percent of those seeking treatment for depression. The percentages may seem small, but given how common these conditions are, they affect a very large number of individuals, resulting in great personal, financial and societal costs.
My Hearing Test and Hearing Aids
So I made an appointment with an audiologist who determined I had severe hearing loss and certain words I could not recognize. I didn’t realize how poor my hearing was; as I was seemingly able get by.
Medicare Advantage
I’ll have to write a post about this in the future. Being retired and almost 70, I am eligible for Medicare (which I paid into most of my adult life). However, I don’t have regular Medicare. Instead, I opted for Medicare Advantage, which are plans offered by private insurance companies. My Medicare Part B payments go to my insurance provider instead of Uncle Sam. So, instead of not having coverage for hearing aids under Medicare, I got two hearing aids, a three year extended warranty for any failure (to include misuse or accidents on my part, plus a year supply of batteries for a total “out-the-door price” of $858. That’s all it cost!
Learning How to Hear Again
Now I can hear everything. And I mean everything. Door squeaks, Joyce turning pages in a book, leaves blowing in the backyard, etc. I am hearing things most people don’t hear – or rather things most people have learned to tune out.
I wear them every day, all day. And the batteries are lasting longer than expected. Almost 9 days instead of the maximum quoted time of 7 days. It will take a while to get used to them, but each day they are working out better and better.
I wish I had done this sooner.
And most of all, I want to thank my friend, Doug, for chewing my ass out two years ago.
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