Those not experiencing it, cannot imagine the degree of negative influence it brings about in a household. Described briefly, my wife yells pretty loudly when she wants me to definitely understand what she has said. Often, I don't, though, and then she repeats, louder still, but with a change in tonal quality, an anger if you will, and then it angers ME. Then, I yell back. OK, at home inconvenience, out in public, downright shameful. About a year ago, I bought hearing aids, pretty good ones. Better, but not quite like normal hearing. Have many of you folks experienced similar episodes?
Yes Frank my hearing has lost a lot of the middle range which is the human voice area, so I find it difficult to separate out sounds from background noises, which is worst in a noisy pub or restaurant. I often mishear words, which I usually turn into humour, ..... but at the cinema it is a nuisance as I find dialogue difficult at times, and use subtitles a lot at home if available, when watching a movie or a TV programme. I don't get shouted at in frustration, and I would find that embarrassing. I have hearing aids, but they don't really help that much.
When I was diagnosed with poor eyesight, it saddened me. As a grade schooler, it should be a cute thing in wearing eyeglasses but it's not cool to me. My feeling is that I have been handicapped that early when eyeglasses are meant for adults. It is like something was lost that cannot be recovered anymore. My niece was discovered to have a hard of hearing in one of her ears. She is now using hearing aid otherwise she couldn't hear well with one ear. As I see it now, it's just a matter of adjusting with the situation. In other words, accept your handicap and try to be happy that you are still alive. That's what I see in my niece who is a positive thinker.
I've been dealing with this problem for the past couple of years. My daughters were actually the ones who first brought it to my attention that I was not hearing as well because when we were together I would have to ask them to repeat what they had said to me a few times. I just thought it was because they were usually in another room with their backs turned to me when they said something to me. But then I started noticing I wasn't hearing the TV as well or what my husband would say to me sometimes even though he was sitting not to far from me at the time. I also noticed I was hearing those who called me on the phone as well either. I'm not having an easy time dealing with this and although I'm done some research on hearing loss and what can be done about it...I'm not to encouraged with what I am reading. Most of the opinions on hearing aids are negative and from what I read hearing aids do not help all types of hearing loss. I did talk to my new Doctor about what is happening and she did a few simple things to test my hearing...and we found that I hear better out of one ear than the other. Now that I am on a Medicare Advantage plan that covers hearing tests, etc. and up to $1000. for hearing aids I will be going for further testing to see what my options are. I am getting at the point now where my loss of hearing is interfering with my life and I'm not happy about this at all. But what I can't change I will adapt to, improvise, and overcome one way or the other.
My Mom has hearing loss or what is called tinnitis. Doctor said it's from aging. Kaiser's plan she is under doesn't cover hearing aids. She was in the hospital and her home nurse also has hearing loss and wears hearing aids. She and my Mom connected and they began to talk as Mom recuperated. They like you go through the same things. I too have to make sure she hears. It's a good thing I'm a bit more patient with her and I hope your family gets patient with you, not treating you like a child, but understanding that you need to hear things. I have to remind my Mom that we have to turn down the television after about 8PM where we live because it gets too loud. She gets annoyed with me and we make a joke out of it, but it's so sad to see people we love go through what they are going through too. She has her good days when she can hear just about anything too. We don't mean to be yelling it's just that we want you to hear what we are saying.