It takes the average person with hearing loss 5 to 7 years before seeking a professional diagnosis, in spite of the reality that the signs and symptoms of hearing loss are very clear to other people. But are those with hearing loss just too stubborn to get help? No, actually, and for a handful of specific reasons.
Perhaps you know someone with hearing loss who either denies the problem or declines to seek professional help, and despite the fact that this is no doubt frustrating, it is very possible that the symptoms of hearing loss are much more conspicuous to you than they are to them.
Here are the reasons why:
1. Hearing loss is gradual
In the majority of scenarios, hearing loss comes about so gradually over time that the impacted individual simply doesn’t perceive the change. While you would perceive an abrupt change from normal hearing to a 25 decibel hearing loss (classified as moderate hearing loss), you wouldn’t detect the minor change of a 1-2 decibel loss.
So a slow loss of 1-2 decibels over the course of 10-20 years, while generating a 20-40 total decibel loss, is not going to be detectable at any given moment in time for those afflicted. That’s why friends and family are virtually always the first to recognize hearing loss.
2. Hearing loss is often partial (high-frequency only)
The majority of hearing loss scenarios are classified as high-frequency hearing loss, which means that the impacted individual can still hear low-frequency background sounds normally. While speech, which is a high-frequency sound, is challenging for those with hearing loss to comprehend, other sounds can usually be heard normally. This is why it’s common for those with hearing loss to state, “my hearing is fine, everyone else mumbles.”
3. Hearing loss is not attended to by the family doctor
Individuals struggling with hearing loss can obtain a mistaken sense of well-being following their annual physical. It’s common to hear people state “if I had hearing loss, my doctor would have told me.”
This is of course not true because only 14% of physicians routinely screen for hearing loss during the yearly checkup. Not to mention that the foremost symptom for most cases of hearing loss — difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise — will not present itself in a tranquil office environment.
4. The burden of hearing loss can be shared or passed on to others
How do you address hearing loss when there’s no cure? The answer is straight forward: amplify sounds. The problem is, although hearing aids are the most effective at amplifying sounds, they are not the only way to accomplish it — which those with hearing loss quickly find out.
Those with hearing loss oftentimes crank up the volume on everything, to the detriment of those around them. Tv sets and radios are played excessively loud and people are made to either scream or repeat themselves. The person with hearing loss can get by just fine with this approach, but only by transferring the burden to friends, family members, and co-workers.
5. Hearing loss is painless and invisible
Hearing loss is mostly subjective: it cannot be diagnosed by visual assessment and it usually is not accompanied by any pain or discomfort. If individuals with hearing loss do not recognize a problem, mostly because of the reasons above, then they most likely won’t take action.
The only way to accurately diagnose hearing loss is through audiometry, which will measure the exact decibel level hearing loss at several sound frequencies. This is the only way to objectively say whether hearing loss is present, but the tricky part is of course getting to that point.
How to approach those with hearing loss
Hopefully, this essay has established some empathy. It is always frustrating when someone with hearing loss refuses to recognize the problem, but remember, they may legitimately not comprehend the severity of the problem. Rather than demanding that they get their hearing tested, a more reliable method may be to educate them on the features of hearing loss that make the condition practically invisible.