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Profound hearing loss and anxiety when more than a few conversations going on at the same time

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I have profound hearing loss in both ears and wear Naida UP 90. I’ve wore ha for over ten years. I just had a insight to my hearing loss and anxiety around a lot of people. I’m sure other people on this forum have experienced this phenomena and that is why I’m reaching out. I live alone too which adds to the anxiety when around a lot of people. Just wanting to get some glimpse what actions I can take to be more aware of the anxiety and maybe finding a way to lesson the anxiety. The say half the battle is knowing what the problem is. I do not take any medications for anxiety. I just know that in some situations I have a lot of anxiety. I have not talked to my audiologist about this or a therapist. Also most audiologists do not know how to deal with profound hearing loss. That has been my experience. I don’t think there is a way to get rid of the anxiety. I’m hoping there is a way to lesson the anxiety without medications. When I say a few conversations going on I’m saying from 5 to a hundred. I forgot to say my reaction to the anxiety is to withdraw and then I don’t enjoy being in that situation.
thanks in advance for your help.

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@godavid_d said:

I forgot to say my reaction to the anxiety is to withdraw and then I don’t enjoy being in that situation.

I’m exactly the same.

If I meet one other person, I’m fine. Put me in a group and I just withdraw as by the time I’ve figured out what the person is saying, the next person speaks and so I’m forever too late.

The whole thing is exhausting.

Hearing aids, lip reading and the Roger, only help so far….

Hopefully more people will reply to this thread.

I have the same problem. When there are too many people talking around me, I just leave, or I stay, but disconnect from them and retreat into myself. If your main problem is anxiety, try herbal Persen or the Insight Timer app.

Due to that very thing I went through an emotional time with bad anxiety a few years back, where I couldn’t be in groups at all. It all started when I couldn’t understand what people were saying in a group at church I was involved with.

As I stayed away from large groups I gradually got better, but it took a while.

Since I put Live Transcribe on my cellphone it has helped immensely, as it picks up what people are saying near me. I can now be part of our apartment complex council of 7, as it picks up what each is saying as long as they’re not all talking at once. Life changer! I do church online so I can have the closed captioning, but am thinking of getting back into a small group. That’s how much I’ve improved!

I had been using Otter before Live Transcribe came out, but Live Transcribe works on my phone even without being online (it’s a setting you change). It works better than Otter at getting words right, although it sometimes makes me smile with the wrong words.

To be honest, I have very poor word recognition, and Live Transcribe works well for me because of that.

Will my hearing loss isn’t yet classified as profound my word recognition score is just as bad as a profound hearing loss, as per my audiologist. I do fair in a face to face one on one, but conversations in a group is impossible and if people are trying to talk over each other I normally just mute my aids and forget it. Instrumental music is enjoyable but songs with singers and instruments is terrible.
More and more i depend on streaming, calls, audiobooks, TV, and I use t-coils for out church services.

@godavid_d said:

I don’t think there is a way to get rid of the anxiety. I’m hoping there is a way to lesson the anxiety without medications…

Certainly hearing loss is contributing to your feeling anxious around people. this is normal.

I found talk therapy to be extremely helpful for my depression, which is associated with anxiety. Just having a safe, dependable and accepting space available several times a week where I could talk about my life and feelings worked wonders in a few months. Finding the right therapist is crucial. Oh, and there was a teaching center nearby that offered low rate therapy.

therapy ended my extreme depression. However, many years later with the onset of Covid, I found myself having a lot of anxiety. I was always anti-medication and never took them during the period of my talk therapy. But I have to say, taking a mild dose of an anti anxiety med really helped get me through Covid. It helped, and reminded me of what anxiety free life is like. Medications such as Sertraline have been taken by millions over decades. They’re safe. You can go off them at any time. I’m not embarrassed by “resorting” to a med and not dealing with my anxiety through force of will. Frankly, that doesn’t work.

so: talk therapy, and try a mild anti-anxiety drug like sertarline. This last is safe with few or no side effects.
There ARE ways to “get rid of the anxiety”, or at least greatly reduce it. there are!!! I’m living proof.

I spend 8 years in the Navy and my dad was in the Navy during WW2 , from my dad, uncles that were in the war and my time with my own experiences in the military, I don’t understand why hearing loss would cause anxiety. To me hearing loss just ticks me off. Why? Because i don’t understand why people can’t understand and accept that i have issues understanding them. People don’t have any patience or respect for others, people don’t or can’t even take time to understand anything now days. Yes I know i grew up in a slower time and slower environment , but I worked in a very fast moving environment of computers and found that slowing down and thinking normally fixed my problem faster that jumping to conclusions.

I am in the same boat @godavid_d… I never really knew what Anxiety was, until after my first bout of Sepsis (I have now had Sepsis twice) first time round, after the high dependency unit, I ended up with “Post Sepsis Syndrome” my resting heart beat was around,140 to 150 BPM, for no apparent reason… My doctor told me, I had Anxiety, I hadn’t a clue what Anxiety was, I soon found out! I take Propranolol ( Beta Blocker) twice daily to regulate my heartbeat, without it, my heart would be racing… In the early days of Anxiety, it was chronic, full blown symptoms of a heart attack on a daily basis, sometimes 2, 3, or 4 times each day, for approximately 6 months, before things eased… Nowadays I am fine, as long as I take the Medication, as for crowds, no problem whatsoever… And yes, I am going to miss the odd part’s of conversations, but that doesn’t put me up nor down, it doesn’t faze me at all, I am very relaxed in a crowd, twice a week (most weeks) I am in pubs, playing pool league matches, up to 6 matches going on simultaneously, juke box blaring, TV also, 50 or 60 body’s in there drinking, and shooting pool… I hear pretty good, and if I am struggling, I always carry a couple of Roger ’s in my jacket pocket, usually a Roger Pen 1.1 and a Roger Clip On Mic, in most instances, they aren’t required, my Naida Lumity 90 UP ’s are excellent in noise… One other thing of note, I was trained in Lip Reading, my NHS A.uD said to me one time, “considering your loss, you are an excellent Lip Reader Kevin” and yes, I believe, I am fairly proficient in this department, which helps a lot in noise… Cheers Kev :wink:

Another profound hearing loss, but I have worn ’s for over 40 years. One thing I have figured out is that the more people are talking at the same time, the less substance. So, no sense getting anxious.

Today’s hearing aids are way ahead of the ones 40 years ago.

I take a low dose of Celexa for anxiety. I went to therapy to talk about hearing loss and how it can trigger anxiety. The therapy helped but I decided to add medication in 2021. It definitely helps take the edge off ace improves my mood. Audiologists have never talked to me about mental health as it relates to hearing loss. But I absolutely feel my anxiety is tied to my hearing loss.

In reply to @cvkemp

@cvkemp said:

I don’t understand why hearing loss would cause anxiety.

Yes Chuck, anxiety does not cause hearing loss. Anxiety is my reaction to certain social situations. Like I said before where there are a lot of people and a lot of people talking I shut down emotionally and that affects my hearing. I looked up anxiety and it said that it can be a normal reaction to stress!!! I guess what I want is when I’m in a stressful situation like stated before I don’t want to have averse reaction. It could be said that my emotions affect my hearing. I don’t know if this problem can be answer on this forum but I appreciate all the replies.

@cvkemp said:

I don’t understand why hearing loss would cause anxiety.

Very common regarding hearing situations when you’re in the profound range. That’s what my hospital said.

My friend who isn’t in the profound range, also couldn’t understand how hearing loss would cause anxiety.

In reply to @godavid_d

Completely understand how this would make you feel anxious. A few people have referred to a book called “Hear & Beyond” which has lots of tips for living with hearing loss. In a group it can highlight the feeling of being left out or feeling ostracised. It’s challenging how you react to this, that will help. Your research will be useful, possibly finding a support group, , meditation. Working out what feels right for you. In England there is the RNID who would give advice on how to help your feelings. Consider if there are any support groups accessible to you that you can email or attend, whatever feels comfortable for you. Try practicing going to places like shops & communicating with shop attendants. I find saying I am deaf doesn’t help much, but instructions are better-can you face me/speak louder/repeat that. Sometimes it doesn’t work but maybe 75% of the time it does. They may also wear hearing aids who have a relative who does. They may suffer from anxiety or depression. You are reaching out for help & that’s the first step to improving things for you. I wish you well.

In reply to @godavid_d

I grew up on a farm, while my parents, aunts, uncles, grandfather and even my great grandfather worked in the farm my nieces and nephews and myself all that were too young to help were raised by my grandmother and great grandmother, which were Native American, we were taught from a very young age to never allow anything we couldn’t control to upset us. I carried that my whole life, if it isn’t within my control I don’t let it upset me. My hearing loss is not in my control and neither is the environment outside of my home. If i am in a noisy environment I have control over the volume of my aids, or i can mute my aids. Or i can choose to exit that environment. I am not ashamed to say i have a hearing loss and can’t understand what is being said. My hearing loss is out of my control.

So very true i am 76, I still research go to lectures, and rea over 100 books a year or listen to audiobooks, podcast, YouTube information about anything and everything that interests me. But i stay away from network TV and the entertainment that they now call news, it is no longer real news it is entertainment that is so shaded. I have always been someone that never takes anyone else’s word for anything i have to understand it and handle it myself as far as i can. If it is not im my control then I just let go of it. Some say I give it to God. I say i give it to the higher being.

If i have no control over it then why should I worry about it, it isn’t something I can control.

Edited

Interesting discussion. I often see people on other forums ask if they should “worry” about something. My response is you should never worry about something. If you can do something about it, do it. If you cant, let it go. I do think some people are more “wired” for anxiety than others and my “gut” says our constantly connected society makes it worse for these people.

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