A Resource for Hearing Aids in Palos Verdes Estates, CA Explains The Impact of Treated Hearing Loss on Quality of Life
Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D. - Better Hearing Institute, Washington, DC
The number one reason why people purchase their first hearing aids is they recognize their hearing has worsened. The second reason is pressure from family members who are negatively impacted by the individuals hearing loss. As you know by now, hearing loss occurs gradually. By the time you recognize a need for hearing aids, your quality of life may have deteriorated unnecessarily. The average age of first-time hearing aid wearers is close to 70 years of age, despite the fact that the majority (65 percent) of people with hearing loss are below the age of 65; and nearly half of all people with hearing loss are below the age of 55.
Although they may be aware their hearing loss has deteriorated, the vast majority of individuals (78 percent of all people who admit to hearing loss), delay hearing aid purchases under the excuses: "My hearing loss is not bad enough yet; I can get by without them; my hearing loss is mild." A large number of people wait 15 years or more from the point when they first recognize they have a hearing loss to when they purchase their first hearing aids. This is a tragedy since they might not be aware of the impact this delayed decision has had on their life and the lives of their family and associates.
Hearing aids clearly are associated with improving the social, emotional, psychological, and physical well-being of people with hearing loss in all hearing loss categories from mild to severe. These findings clearly provide strong evidence for the value of hearing aids in improving the quality of life of people with hearing loss. Specifically, hearing aid usage is positively related to the following quality of life issues:
- greater earning power (especially the top 60% of hearing losses)
- improved interpersonal relationships (especially for mild-moderate losses) including greater intimacy and lessening of negative dysfunctional communication
- reduction in discrimination toward the person with the hearing loss
- reduction in difficulty associated with communication (primarily severe to profound hearing losses)
- reduction in hearing loss compensation behaviors
- reduction in anger and frustration
- reduction in the incidence of depression and depressive symptoms
- enhanced emotional stability
- reduction in paranoid feelings
- reduced anxiety symptoms
- reduced social phobias (primarily severely impaired subjects)
- improved belief that the subject is in control of their lives
- reduced self-criticism
- improved cognitive functioning (primarily severe to profound hearing loss)
- improved health status and less incidence of pain
- enhanced group social activity
In this study, both respondents and their family members were asked to independently rate the extent to which they believed their life was specifically improved due to hearing aids. All hearing loss groups from mild to profound reported significant improvements in nearly every area measured:
- relationships at home and with family
- feelings about self
- life overall
- mental health
- social life
- emotional health
- physical health
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