Communication is an important part of any relationship. It helps you enjoy your time with friends and family. It’s key to be able exchange thoughts, ideas and concerns with your partner. It helps keep you connected with your children and grandchildren. When someone suffers from hearing loss, communication with their partner, friends or family can be a challenge. Hearing loss makes it harder to fully hear and process what’s been said. This causes a lot of misunderstanding, repetition and frustration too. This can lead to a sense of loneliness and resentment for both partners. But there is hope! This blog is to help you understand the impact of hearing loss on relationships and includes a video from one of our clients whose partner suffered from hearing loss…
The Impact of Hearing Loss on Relationships
In it together: the impact of hearing loss on personal relationships – a published report from 2010, revealed results from 23 interviews with people who had partners suffering from hearing loss. The results showed that there was a great lack of understanding truly understanding the difficulty of hearing loss. What many people don’t realise is how exhausting it is for someone to have to have to hear through background noise or how they can be in danger if they don’t hear a warning beep or an indicator that’s been left on in the car. Some of the effects of hearing loss include:
- Frustration
- Resentment
- Loneliness
- Exclusion from social activities
- A decline in intimacy
- Decrease in communication in general
- Depression
All the little things that we take for granted with healthy hearing can have a massive impact for a loved one suffering from hearing loss. It’s also the small things like laughter, jokes and kid’s playing that bring real joy and intimacy to a relationship.
A Resolution
The great news is that there is hope! Hearing aids in market today are amazing. They not only help you hear clearer in background noise but can be synced up to your iPhone or iPad so you can take calls, stream music and start to enjoy all the little and large sounds again. This helps improve quality of life and reconnects you with your partner, family or friends. Even Lyric, which is worn deep inside the ear canal and is invisible can allow people to hear at night and during the day. Perfect for hearing little ones crying in the middle of the night or for those intimate moments.
Meet Leonie
We are very grateful to Leonie, one of our lovely clients who offered to share her experience and her husband’s hearing loss story with us. She shares the frustrations they experienced before his hearing was treated as well as the joy they’re experiencing now that he’s been fitted with a hearing aid.
