Seven Years is Too Long to Wait for a Hearing Aid
According to a recent article published in Hearing Review, most people avoid getting a hearing aid despite their significant hearing loss or difficulty understanding conversations in quiet or noisy settings. The average wait time is seven years between the time they are affected by hearing loss and when they are fitted for a hearing device. And once they do seek help, professionals are faced with dealing with negative attitudes, myths and impressions.
There is a widespread negative stigma that goes with wearing hearing assistive devices, which can keep those who need one from getting one. The article “Right Product; Wrong Message” looks at ways we can change public and hearing aid users’ perceptions.
It does sound really long to live with hearing loss and not do anything about it for seven years. I would feel sorry for the child whose condition of hearing loss was avoided. It seems like more should be done to help kids know the importance of a hearing aid.
I think it’s interesting that the way health information is presented to a person will determine when they will take positive action toward their health. It’s incredible that it takes an average of 7 years for people to confront their hearing loss and take action to getting hearing aids. I think that the awareness of hearing loss should be raised by the medical community, in hopes of persuading those with hearing loss to have the problem corrected.
I would have to agree that there seems to be a bad stigma about wearing hearing aids. We need to make it more like glasses where it’s not a negative thing to be wearing a helping device. Seven years is really too long to wait for a hearing aid, because there could be so much you are missing out on.
I agree with this post that we can do better as a community in getting those who need hearing aids the help that they need. We do really good to help those who have issues with their sight, I think it should be the same way with hearing. Hearing is a really important part of being successful in the kind of world we live in.