Hearing Loss Hurts
By the time they’re ready to ask for help, people with hearing loss (and their family members) have already suffered social, psychological, cognitive, financial, and health effects related to hearing loss. Early hearing loss treatment is key for preventing the effects listed here.
Social Isolation, Depression and Other Effects
Untreated hearing loss can be harmful to relationships. The inability to communicate effectively with others leads to isolation and alienation. It also requires enormous effort to communicate, which can lead to many of the following side effects*:
- Fatigue
- Irritability
- Negativism
- Anger
- Tension
- Stress
- Depression
- Avoidance or withdrawal from social situations
- Social rejection
- Loneliness
Fortunately, in many cases, treatment of hearing loss can resolve most of the above. If you or a family member is suffering, the first step toward relief is to schedule a hearing evaluation.
Memory Problems and Other Cognitive Effects
Did you know that forgetfulness and other effects of hearing loss might actually be mistaken for dementia? Research shows that the ability to think and multitask is diminished when the brain is working overtime to communicate. Those with hearing loss and their family members need to understand that symptoms of cognitive decline may in fact be symptoms of hearing loss.
Read Eleanor’s Disappearance, a representation of what happens when hearing loss is mistaken for mental impairment.
Eleanor Johnson is a woman in her early 70s, retired seven years ago from her position at a law firm as an executive assistant. She started her retirement with an active social calendar of bridge and golf with friends and spent time at the house of her daughter, Emily, and her family, including Emily’s 3-year-old Olivia.
Over the past two years, however, Eleanor has been withdrawing. She doesn’t socialize as much with her friends. While she still spends time at her daughter’s house, Emily has grown concerned because Eleanor doesn’t come over as often, nor does she participate in the family discussions as much as she used to.
Emily has also noticed that her mother is forgetting things and seems more irritable. This particularly upsets Emily because her daughter is not growing up with the wonderful grandmother that Emily hoped she would. Emily, her family, and Eleanor’s friends are all dismayed at the obvious change in Eleanor’s mental state and decline in her ability, but what they don’t realize is that this is due to Eleanor’s hearing problem, and has nothing to do with an impairment to Eleanor’s mental ability.
Because Eleanor does not get her hearing tested and obtain hearing health treatment, Eleanor continues to become more socially distant from her friends and family who assume that this is a natural and untreatable consequence of Eleanor’s aging. What Emily doesn’t realize is that she can bring her mother back with hearing aids.
While this story and the following one about Stan Thomas are fictional, they are representative of real-life accounts of people with hearing impairment (e.g., Harvey, M.A. Listen with the heart: relationships and hearing loss. 2001, San Diego, CA: Dawn Sign Press).
Financial Consequences and Other Career Effects
Untreated hearing loss can also affect your ability to perform work effectively, which has a negative impact upon overall job effectiveness, opportunity for promotion and perhaps lifelong earning power. When you miss important information in meetings or respond inappropriately, your colleagues may assume it’s a performance problem rather than hearing loss.
Read A businessman ages out before his time, a representation of what happens when hearing loss is mistaken for mental impairment.
Stan Thomas is a senior vice-president of marketing at Exicet International, a large and successful biotech firm. He climbed the corporate ladder from his starting position as a staff engineer and is now responsible for global product positioning and a key liaison with the company’s Board of Directors.
Janet Pegison, the CEO, relies on Stan’s intuition about the industry for many of her key decisions. Janet, however, is thinking about asking Stan to retire. She has noticed that Stan is not as sharp as he used to be with the Board, and quite often doesn’t seem to follow a fast-moving conversation, often making irrelevant comments that leave Board members shaking their heads in puzzlement. One-on-one, Stan is still able to offer the keen insight that Janet has come to rely on, but she now tries to limit her consultations with him to the morning because by the afternoon he seems mentally and physically exhausted. Janet worries that Stan’s keen mind is wearing down with age. She has already put in place plans to move Stan to a less demanding role within Exicet.
Because Stan is such an important employee to the company, Janet worries about Exicet’s sales, new product development, and employee morale when these changes to Stan’s role are made. What Janet doesn’t realize is that this change in Stan’s performance is due to his deteriorating hearing health—a decline in hearing ability that Stan himself is aware of, though he doesn’t realize the impact it is having on his work. Stan’s hearing and ability to function in his job could be remedied by wearing hearing aids, but unfortunately Stan won’t get them until five years after Janet has forced him to retire and Janet will have lost a key executive.
While this story is fictional, it is representative of real-life accounts of people with hearing impairment (e.g., Harvey, M.A. Listen with the heart: relationships and hearing loss. 2001, San Diego, CA: Dawn Sign Press).
Studies have shown that a person with uncorrected moderate–to-profound hearing loss earns about $5,000-6000 a year less than someone with similar hearing loss who does wear hearing aids**.
Read the National Council on Aging study results showing impacts of untreated hearing loss.>>
*Kochkin, S. (2011). The Impact of Treated Hearing Loss on Quality of Life. Better Hearing Institute, www.betterhearing.org
**Kochkin, S., & Rogin, C. (2000) Quantifying the Obvious: The Impact of Hearing Instruments on Quality of Life. The Hearing Review, January 2000. Better Hearing Institute, www.betterhearing.org/pdfs/MR40.pdf
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