Important things for you to know about hearing loss
Hearing Loss is an invisible disability and affects anyone from all ages and all walks of life. It is common but often ignored by the hard-of-hearing individual until the effects of untreated hearing loss impacts not only themselves but also everyone around them.
Approximately 3 million Canadians suffer from hearing loss- that's 1 out of 10 people!
How do you know if you have a hearing loss? Please feel free to participate in our questionnaire:
- Do you often ask people to repeat themselves?
- Have you been told by your loved ones or friends that you don't seem to hear well?
- Do you need to have the TV or radio up louder?
- Is it especially difficult to understand conversation when background noise is present?
- Do you find people mumble when they speak to you?
- Do you have trouble understanding group conversations?
- Do you find it difficult to tell which direction sounds are coming from?
- Do you avoid meeting people because you can't hear them well?
- If you have answered YES to 2 or more questions, you may have a hearing loss. Please consult with your local Hearing Instrument Practitioner for further advice. If you do not have one, please check out our "Find a Member" page. It is important you speak to a Hearing Instrument Professional.
Symptoms of untreated hearing loss are:
- Social Isolation-Withdrawal from conversations, group meetings, or social gatherings.
- Hard-of-Hearing individual speaks out of context
- Loss of Self-confidence/self-esteem
- Frustration with self, family members, or friends
- Anger
- Annoyance
- High risk of depression
Hearing aids can help a client overcome some of their issues but he/she should utilize other communication strategies to communicate more effectively. Here are some examples of communication strategies both from a speaker and alistener's perspective.
As a speaker (you communicating with a Hard-of-Hearing individual):
- Ensure that the Hard-of-Hearing person is facing you
- If the speaker is a male, please ensure that your beard or mustache is clean-shaven above and below the lips. Otherwise it will disrupt the lip-reading patterns
- If the speaker is a female, please ensure that lipsticks used are not bright and shiny as it also disrupts lip-reading patterns
- Please keep hands or objects away from the lips or face
- Do not shout! Speak clearly and slowly
- Do not repeat. Kindly rephrase your comments or questions
- Check the lighting in the room. If it is dim, the hard-of-hearing person will have great difficulty understanding you
- Move to a quiet area of the room if background noise is present
- If you are in a restaurant with a Hard-of-Hearing person, ask for seating near a window for better lighting and away from the kitchen or any loud noise sources
As a Hard-of-Hearing individual, you should do the following:
- Ensure that you are facing the speaker
- Be assertive! Notify the speaker of your hearing loss and request that the speaker speaks clearly and slowly
- Reduce the distance between you and the speaker
- Ensure good lighting in the room
There are a variety of hearing aid styles to choose from:
Please consult with a Hearing Instrument Practitioner for more information on hearing aids.
