Over the past 18 years I have witnessed countless situations where family members are under significant stress and are full of contention due to one or more members of the family having hearing loss. While some people have figured out how to handle the difficulties associated with hearing loss in a productive and positive way, many people are unaware of how to handle these situations. While each situation is unique and different, certain practices can be used to eliminate or minimize some of the negative issues. Showing love will help. Here are some ways to show love when it comes to hearing loss no matter which side you are on.

Choose love for your family member with hearing loss by trying to be understanding. Educate yourself on the nature of hearing loss and things you can do to make communicating more effective. Some of these things include getting the person’s attention before speaking, being directly in front of them when speaking, speaking more slowly, and repeating or rephrasing in a calm manner when miscommunication occurs. Speaking slightly louder to someone who is wearing hearing aids can help at times, but speaking too loudly can actually be uncomfortable or even painful, and even more difficult to understand.

When you have hearing loss, show love to your family and friends by having your hearing tested, purchasing hearing aids if needed, and wearing the devices all the time. Accommodating someone with hearing loss takes time and energy and can cause significant stress. Being forced to speak more loudly can actually cause the speaker to experience high blood pressure. Wearing hearing aids when needed decreases the amount of accommodation needed to ensure effective communication. The sooner a person chooses to get hearing aids and start wearing them, the more likely that just wearing the hearing aids will make it possible to hear normally in every situation. The longer a person waits, the more difficult hearing becomes in all situations even with hearing aids.

Wearing hearing aids sooner rather than later shows love for both the family members of the wearer, and the wearer themselves. Failure to treat hearing loss significantly increases the likelihood of developing dementia. Dealing with the symptoms of dementia can be extremely stressful on both parties. Purchasing and wearing hearing aids is less expensive than paying for memory care and other related health problems.

Another way to show love for yourself and others is to protect your hearing before hearing loss occurs. Show love to others and your future self by protecting your hearing. Many individuals work in occupations or participate in hobbies where noise induced hearing loss is a significant risk due to exposure to unsafe levels of noise. Using hearing protection seems like an inconvenience at times. But in the long run, using earplugs or muffs when working with tools, heavy equipment or shooting is much more convenient and less expensive that wearing hearing aids for the rest of your life.