Nov 21, 2008

Like a circle in a spiral, Like a wheel within a wheel..

Hearing aids “more often than not insufficient”

Yesterday there was an despairing post on AllDeaf about a “sloping loss” (where the hearing loss was high frequency hearing loss) and that the audiologist had suggested hearing aids may not be the answer.

For many people, when they find out they have a hearing loss the first thing they look for is a quick medical fix - a consequence of our “everyone has to be perfect, trust the experts they know best, there is an answer for everything” medical model of illness, disease and disability. An unfortunate side-effect of being able to offer an answer for some things is that we expect an answer for everything.

However, as the title suggests from Neil Bauman’s latest post, Hearing Aids Are Not the Whole Answer, So Why Do We Act as if They Are?

Neil mentions five areas that need to be addressed by audiologist with their clients in order to achieve the best outcomes:

  1. Working through the grieving process with regards to the hearing loss so that the client is psychologically and emotionally adjusted to the reality of being hard of hearing. He notes that this first step is essential if the following four areas are to result in the best possible outcome for the client.
  2. Get properly adjusted hearing aids if hearing aids will help - and he suggests 99.9% of people will be helped with hearing aids.
  3. Get the appropriate assistive listening devices that are necessary to help in situations where hearing aids are not adequate. Directional microphones, hearing loops and FM systems can all help to block out background noise and help tune in to the desired source when the environment is noisy.
  4. Learn to lipread (also known as speech reading), so that sound is augmented by visual cues to help you “hear” what is being said.
  5. Learn which coping strategies work for you to help you hear and understand people. Adjustments such as getting close to the speaker, cutting out competing background noise, having light on the speaker’s face but not behind them, choosing round tables rather than square ones, will all help you to keep up with conversation.

It is important that both experts and people with hearing loss are explicit in their understanding that technology is just one of the many resources we have at our disposal, but that in the end (for the moment at least) there is no “cure” for deafness.

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February 28, 2008 | Filed Under Communication, Deafness, Science & Technology 

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