The Hearing Test We Delayed 7 Years: A Story of Support & Patience

Never Give Up on Your Partner Getting Treated for Hearing Loss

I now know the feeling of relief when a partner finally says yes, to getting help with their hearing loss. Her saying yes to booking a hearing test after 7 years of asking left me a bit dumbfounded. Really? Now? Delighted as I was, I could hardly believe it and somehow worried something serious was wrong. How did she decide to finally have her hearing evaluated?

People typically wait 7 – 10 Years to get help with their hearing loss from the very first time they notice something is wrong.

The Excuses & The Daily Problems Caused by Hearing Loss

Denial of Hearing Loss

This was the initial and hardest fought reason she used to not get her first hearing test. This was even used as pushed back as she would say “go get one yourself - you are older!” That was easy to fix by simply going to get a hearing test because I knew that everyone should get at least one hearing test – called a baseline test. This is done to establish their natural healthy hearing in case they have a health problem or accident and for example, need to make an insurance claim for work. Sure, enough my hearing test came out 100% giving me more ammunition to push her to get her hearing evaluation.

Getting a baseline hearing test while your hearing is healthy is a smart move for future insurance claims, diagnosing health problems, and potential hearing issues in the future.

Slow Progression of Hearing Loss

Because hearing loss often progresses slowly, it may not be immediately noticeable. People might gradually adapt to their impaired hearing without realizing how much it is affecting their life or the people around them. It might sound funny, and we have even made a meme of fighting over TV volume, but it is a classic friction point between couples. Eventually something as simple as watching a movie together in front of the TV can become a battle of volumes. One trying to turn the volume down while the other struggles to hear at the other’s comfortable level. Background noise such a running air conditioner would make hearing the TV exponentially more difficult for her. Even over a period of years, she still didn’t notice much as the volume number crept higher – but I did and made comment.

Hearing loss sucked the fun out of many activities. Conversations become more difficult over time, and you notice some difficulty with differentiating words that sound similar. The typical restaurants conversation with people talking and music in the background made repeating every sentence standard for a night out. Plus, there is no talking unless it is face to face – there is absolutely no talking from room to room, its done by phone!

Because hearing loss develops slowly and goes unnoticed, it’s common for a partner to notice hearing loss first.

Talking Too Loud

When a person has hearing loss they do not hear themselves as easily as we do so they overcompensate by speaking more loudly. At the start when denial was in full swing the comment was “I am just a loud person.” In my partner's case this could range from loud to almost yelling as her hearing varies. This would of course be met with “your yelling” and created bad feelings because she did not’ know she was doing it. Frustration would set in on her part and then she would be self conscious of talking loudly, then talk too low and she was hard to hear. This cycle would repeat daily.

Why did you wait to get a hearing test earlier – “I just didn’t know anything was wrong.” Was the combination of denial and not noticing in the early years.

How We Finally Booked a Hearing Test

One day I asked as usual for her to get a hearing test after I had to repeat what I had said, from just around the corner from where she was standing. She said OK, call, book the test. She had developed a crackling noise that in both ears that interfered with her hearing it finally became too much to deal with. She just could not take it anymore. It is tough to think people can be that stubborn, but for some individuals you simply must wait them out and never give up on them.

Waiting with hearing loss issues rarely makes situation better and often leads to complications and potentially greater problems.

Take Our Advice

Ignoring hearing issues made for a lot of extra effort and grief in the day to day that nobody needs on top of all the routine stress of living. One painless simple hearing test could have changed that many years ago. At the Polo Park Hearing Center, that staff are fully qualified as all are Board Certified Hearing Instrument Specialists and up to date on the latest treatments for hearing loss and tinnitus. Fee free to call them at (204) 788-1083 or contact them online to book a hearing test. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Additional Posts
Manitoba Hearing Grant For Seniors - For seniors 65+ and a household income of $80,000 or less.