Having close connections in life is essential, whether talking about family, romantic partners or close friends. Research has shown that engaging in social activities with friends can help buffer some of the negative effects of aging in older adults.
Hearing loss can make connecting with others more difficult. However, using hearing aids may help strengthen your friendships.
Untreated Hearing Loss Makes Communication Harder
One of the most challenging aspects of hearing loss is that it affects your ability to understand and process speech. This can manifest in multiple ways. Perhaps you notice yourself struggling to follow conversations when multiple people are talking at once or find yourself asking others to repeat themselves more frequently.
Many people with hearing loss find themselves both frustrated and fatigued at these frequent miscommunications and choose to start avoiding social interactions more and more. While spouses and family members are often hardest hit by a loved one’s hearing loss, it can impact friendships in several key ways as well.
If you have hearing loss, you may:
- Avoid meeting up with friends for special occasions where there will be lots of background noise, such as a Labor Day barbeque or a friend’s birthday dinner at Moonstone Bistro.
- Struggle with phone conversations or video calls, making staying in touch with long-distance friends more difficult.
- Feel reluctant to try new activities like joining a book club or taking an art class where you might form new friendships.
Hearing Aids Helps You Connect with Friends and Loved Ones
Hearing aids can make connecting with friends easier because they greatly improve your ability to converse and socialize in any environment. Several ways that hearing aids can make speech recognition easier include:
- Make speech sound richer and clearer.
- Improve your ability to process high and low-frequency sounds and adjust to the frequency of the human voice.
- Amplify speech in louder environments.
- Suppress distracting background noise.
- Offer features and programs that help you recognize speech patterns.
Taking The First Step Towards Better Hearing Health
If you have been feeling concerned about your hearing or worry it’s impacting your relationships, the first step is to schedule an appointment with a qualified audiologist. They can examine your ears and perform a hearing test to quickly determine both the cause and severity of any hearing loss you might have. From there, they will work with you to find hearing aids that help pick up the sounds you struggle with and match your style and fit preferences.
Treating your hearing loss can help ensure that you stay connected to the activities and, most importantly, the people that you care for the most.
To learn more or to schedule an appointment, contact Audiology Associates of Redding today.