It was a routine of every day, which was full of despair.
Every time my husband called his father, who was 94 years old, when he died in 2022, he used to wait for his father to find his hearing AIDS and put him before talking.
Nevertheless, my father -in -law could hardly hear what my husband was saying. “What?” He used to ask again and again.
Then, my father -in -law had problems with the battery of equipment. And the time he would end in the hospital, it was unable to understand what people were saying because his hearing AIDS was not working. And time he will leave a device and be unable to find it.
How many old adults have such problems?
According to Nicholas Reid, Assistant Professor of Epidemiological at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, there is no good figure about the subject, who study hearing loss. He discovered a literature when I questioned and came empty.
Reid co-written the most certain study to date on hearing issues in older Americans published in the Jama Open network last year. Previous studies excluded people aged 80 and above. But the data became available when the 2021 survey by National Health and Aging Trends Studies included hearing assessments held in people’s homes.
71 and older people of 2,803 people are nationally -based results based on representative samples, eyes opening. Hearing problems become wider with age forward, over 90% of people aged 85 and above, compared to 53% of children between 71– to 74 years. In addition, worsening over time, more people have experience of medium or serious deficit once or more once in their 70s.
But only 29% of people with hearing loss used hearing devices.
Many studies have documented obstacles that disrupt the use. The devices that do not cover the medicare, are expensive, from about $ 1,000 for a good over-the-counter set (available in OTC Hearing AIDS 2022) exceeding $ 6,000 for some prescription models. In some communities, hearing assessment services are difficult to find. People often combine hearing instruments with old and feel self-conscious about wearing them. And they underestimate hearing problems that develop gradually.
Barbara Venstein, a professor of audiology and author of the textbook “Geometric Audiology” at City University, New York University, added another concern to the list when I reached her: Proper.
“The hearing devices are not really designed for the population that most needs to be used to them,” he told me. “The move to make the equipment small and more sophisticated technically is not right for many people who are big.”
It is problematic because hearing loss increases the risk of cognitive decline, dementia, fall, depression and social isolation.
Then, what is the advice, health hearing is for older adults, who have difficult times in using their hearing devices? Here are some ideas that they have shared.
- Consider large, customized equipment
- Ease of use
- See accessories
- Wear your hearing instruments all day
- Consult a hearing professional
Consider large, customized equipment
Many older people, especially with arthritis, poor fine motor skills, compromise vision and to some extent, have a difficult time manipulating small hearing devices and using them properly.
Lindsay Creed, Associate Director of Audiology Practice at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, said that about half of his old customers have “an issue of any kind of dexterity, whether numbness or low movement or shortage or lack of coordination.”
Shakkah Mast, owner of Mast Audiology Services in Ciford, Delaware, estimates that about half of his customers have vision issues.
For customers with challenges of mastery, creid often recommends “back-ears hearing aids” with a loop above the ear, and customized molds that fit snuggly in the ear. Customized earpieces are larger than standardized models.
“You have the challenges of excess dexterity,” Markvitta Mercisson, Associate Director of Audiology Practice in Asha said, “The better you will do with a big device and you will lift it, orient it, and put it in your ear.”
For older people with vision issues, the mast sometimes orders to listen to AIDS in different colors for different ears. In addition, she will help customers stand at home for storage of equipment, charger and goods so that they can easily find them every time they need.
Ease of use
Thomas Power, an advisor to the Hearing Industries Association, said that instead of buying devices that need to replace small batteries, select a device that can be charged overnight and operate at least a day before. These are now widely available.
People who are comfortable using smartphones should consider using the phone app to change volume and other device settings. Dave Fabrey, a major hearing ad manufacturer, the main hearing at Starkey, said that he has patients in the 80s and 90s “who found that being able to keep phone and use large visual controls is easier than manipulating hearing aid.”
If this is very difficult, try remote control. Another leading manufacturer, GN Round, has designed with two large buttons that activate volume control and programming for their hearing AIDS, Megan Quilter said, said the company’s leading audiologist Megan Quilter for research and development.
See accessories
It is said that you are having trouble listening to other people in the restaurant. You can ask a person crossing the table to clip the microphone in your shirt or put the mike in the center of the table. (Hearing AIDS will need to be programmed to allow the sound to stream the sound on your ears.)
Another low-technical option: a hearing ad clip that connects a piece of cloth to prevent a device from falling from the floor, if it is disorganized by the ear.
Wear your hearing instruments all day
“The matter of number 1 that I hear from older adults is that they feel that when they are at home in a calm environment, they do not need to put on their hearing instruments,” Erica Shakespeare said, who is the owner of audiology and hearing aid associates in La Grande, Oregon.
It is based on a misconception. Shakespeare said that our brain requires excitement from our environment regularly, never a ration. It appears that a quiet environment involves noise, such as a fan hit, a floor crack or air outside a window.
“If you only wear a hearing device once, when you feel that you need them, then you don’t know how your brain processes all those sounds,” he told me.
The law of her thumb: “Wear hearing to hear all your waking hours.”
Consult a hearing professional
All the needs are different, so looking for an audiologist or hearing specialist is a good idea, which can provide guidance for fees.
“Most older people do not know what they want” and what options exist without professional assistance, Virginia Ramachandran said, the leading audiology in Audiology, a leading hearing aid manufacturer, and a previous president of the American Academy of Audiology.
His advice for big adults is “really open” about your challenges.
If you cannot afford the hearing devices, ask an hearing professional for an appointment that you should look into over-the-counter devices. Explain that you want the appointment to be about your needs, not the sales pitch, Reid said. Audiology practices do not regularly offer such service, but it is a good reason to ask that Medicare started covering one year audiologist consultations last year.
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