Even now you’re missing phone calls. You don’t hear the phone ring sometimes. Other times, you simply don’t want to go through the annoyance of having a conversation with a garbled voice you can barely understand.
But it’s not just your phone you’re avoiding. You skipped last week’s bowling night, too. This kind of thing has been happening more and more. You can’t help but feel somewhat… isolated.
The root cause, of course, is your loss of hearing. Your diminishing hearing is resulting in something far too common: social isolation – and you can’t figure out what to do about it. Getting away from loneliness and back to being social can be tricky. But if you want to do it, here are some things you can do.
Acknowledging Your Hearing Loss is Step Number One
Often you aren’t quite certain what the cause of your social isolation is when it first begins to happen. So, recognizing your hearing loss is an important first step. That could mean making an appointment with a hearing professional, getting fitted for hearing aids, and making sure you keep those hearing aids in working order.
Informing people in your life that you have hearing loss is another step towards recognition. Hearing loss is, in many ways, an invisible health condition. Someone who has hearing loss doesn’t have a specific “look”.
So it’s not something anyone will likely pick up on just by looking at you. To your people around you, your turn towards isolation could seem to be anti-social. Talking about your hearing loss can help people around you understand what you’re going through and place your reactions in a different context.
Hearing Loss Shouldn’t Be Kept Secret
Accepting your hearing loss–and informing the people around you about it–is an important first step. Getting scheduled hearing aid exams to make sure your hearing hasn’t changed is also worthwhile. And it might help curb some of the first isolationist inclinations you may feel. But you can deal with isolation with a few more steps.
Make it so Others Can See Your Hearing Aids
The majority of people think that a smaller more invisible hearing aid is a more ideal option. But it might be that making your hearing aid a little more visible could help you relate your hearing impairment more intentionally to others. Some individuals even customize their hearing aids with custom designs. You will encourage people to be more considerate when speaking with you by making it more apparent that you have hearing loss.
Get The Right Treatment
Coping with your hearing loss or tinnitus is going to be much harder if you aren’t effectively treating that hearing condition. What “treatment” looks like may fluctuate wildly depending on the situation. But normally, it means using hearing aids (or making sure that your hearing aids are properly adjusted). And even something that simple can make a huge difference in your day-to-day life.
Be Clear About What You Need
Getting shouted at is never enjoyable. But individuals with hearing loss frequently deal with individuals who think that this is the best way to communicate with them. That’s why it’s important that you advocate for what you need from those close to you. Perhaps instead of calling you on the phone, your friends can text you to plan the next get together. If everyone can get on the same page, you’re not as likely to feel the need to isolate yourself.
Put Yourself in Social Situations
It’s easy to stay away from everyone in the age of the internet. That’s the reason why you can avoid isolation by intentionally placing yourself in situations where there will be people. Shop at your local supermarket instead of ordering groceries from Amazon. Schedule game night with your friends. Social events should be arranged on your calendar. Even something as simple as taking a walk through your neighborhood can be a great way to see other people. Besides helping you feel less isolated, this will also help you to discern words precisely and to keep processing sound cues.
It Can be Dangerous to Become Isolated
Your doing more than limiting your social life by separating yourself because of untreated hearing loss. Isolation of this sort has been connected to cognitive decline, depression, anxiety, and other cognitive health concerns.
Being practical about your hearing condition is the best way to keep yourself healthy and happy and to keep your social life going in the right direction, acknowledge the truths, and do what you can to guarantee you’re making those regular card games.