Your Guide To Managing Hearing Loss

Many audiologists will tell you stories of patients who took years to finally admit they had a hearing issue. When they finally got hearing aids, their entire life changed for the better. 30 million people in the United States have some degree of hearing loss. Knowing you are not alone can be the first step to acknowledging your own hearing issues and taking action. What follows is your guide to managing hearing loss.

Be Proactive In Managing Your Hearing Loss

The three most common public health issues affecting Americans are arthritis, heart disease, and hearing loss — in that order. Once you learn how to accept and manage hearing loss, you can drastically improve your life.

Practice things like:

Admitting your hearing loss

You shouldn’t be ashamed of a hearing issue. In fact, rather than continuing to ask people to repeat what they said, simply tell or remind people you have this issue.

Avoid loud noises

If you already have hearing problems, loud noises can make it worse. Best practice is to wear ear protection if you can’t avoid the noise.

Take Care of Your Hearing Aids

Keep them clean, replace needed parts, change the batteries, and see Coastal Ear, Nose & Throat if they are not working properly.

Use Assistive Technology When Possible

Using these devices can make managing your hearing loss a bit easier. Telephone typewriters, speech to text, and bluetooth connectivity are just some ways to use these devices to your advantage.

Get Regular Hearing Checkups

Just like you see your dentist or ophthalmologist for regular appointments, it is equally important to see Coastal Ear, Nose & Throat for scheduled hearing checks in Savannah & Pooler, GA. This way you can catch any changes to your hearing before it affects you or becomes worse.

Communication Tips

Find ways to improve communication even if you have a hearing loss. Face the person you are talking to, note their body language, facial expressions, eye contact, hand gestures, and tone of voice to help you understand and communicate better.

Give Yourself Time

If you are a newbie to hearing aids, take it slow and allow yourself time to adjust to them. Wearing contact lenses probably took a while before you got comfortable. Be patient, and suddenly you will wake up one morning, put them in, and you won’t even notice you are using them.