How to persuade older people to wear hearing aid

The signs that your parent may be suffering with a hearing loss may be quite obvious

You may need to raise your voice to be heard, or the TV volume is higher than you would expect.

But you may also find that your parent has adapted well using lip-reading, or opting out of conversations instead.

It is a good idea to watch and listen to your parents during family/group gatherings

• Do they struggle to understand grandchildren or female voices (high pitches are more difficult to hear with age related hearing losses)?
• Do you find the sit out of the main conversation circle choosing to talk to people individually?
• Do you find they answer questions wrongly or miss the point of a sentence?

If you suspect that a hearing loss is affecting their quality of life, then the first step is to convince them to have a hearing test

With that information, they can make an informed decision about the next steps.  These may be to wait until they feel they are ready to try hearing aids or to start a one to three month trial

It is essential that your parent wants to use the hearing aids, as a 100% commitment is required

Unlike glasses, hearing aids require the user to learn new sounds (that they have been missing) and adapt to the additional noise

If they aren’t committed they are most likely to reject the aids after a few days

Once the test (pure tone audiogram) has revealed a hearing impairment, you may be able to point out the situations where your parent has difficulties. Every time they mishear, or don’t hear mention it in a calm way, just to inform them and help them accept their loss

There is a process that people must go through before they accept the need for hearing aids

Similar to the grief process they usually go through a series of emotions, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance

If you can try to identify where your parent is along this process it may help them get to the acceptance phase

If you would like more impartial advice please contact Anchal Prasher at Barnet Hearing aids, I will be happy to help.

Anchal Prasher is an experienced Audiologist having worked within the NHS and private sector for over 10 years. She started her own hearing aid service in 2009 providing the latest hearing aid technology, assessments and advice. She also manages a new NHS hearing aid service within a group of GP practises. Anchal’s experience ranges from paediatric hearing aid fittings to balance assessments, tinnitus therapy and complex hearing loss issues. She is always at the forefront of changes within Audiology and is registered with all th Anchal Prasher BSc MSc DipCCA RHAD