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10 things someone with hear loss wish others understood

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For individuals like me that can’t hear my doctors or nurses that are wearing the mask, then maybe I could read their lips.

I am not afraid to tell them I can’t hear a word they say. I had one tell me I am rude and my comment was you are the rude person for hiding what are saying from me, you might as well be talking behind my back.

the owner of the forum published instructions for a Phonak mask program

Summary…it boosts mid and high frequencies

The Audi can do this in Target or. We can do it in myPhonak which is the APP

It made a huge difference for me.

DaveL

I will ask my audiologist about it. Thank you.

If it allows me to read my doctor’s lips it is worth it.

Edited

“Here" is not a good enough answer to “Where are you? “

If I need help finding my phone that’s ringing, move fast as we’ve only got seconds until it stops ringing.

One other thing that drives me crazy is my wife speaking to me in low tones when in a store so no one else can hear what she is saying. Duh!!

I would add:

If I ask you to repeat something, repeat exactly what you said. I don’t need it reworded because I’m too stupid to understand what you said, I’m trying to catch that one word that I couldn’t puzzle out and I’m listening for that word and that word only. If you say something different, I will be utterly lost.

@The_Latinist said:

If I ask you to repeat something, repeat exactly what you said. I don’t need it reworded because I’m too stupid to understand what you said, I’m trying to catch that one word that I couldn’t puzzle out and I’m listening for that word and that word only. If you say something different, I will be utterly lost.

I disagree with you on this. Because I have a sensorineural loss there are some words that I just won’t understand no matter how many times it’s repeated. I’d rather the person rephrase what they are telling me.

All those points are so very valid points to someone living with a deaf/ person.

I’ve been deaf/HOH all my life, (congenital hearing loss) my husband didn’t understand any of those points, until he started to lose his hearing.

Something I did when my now adult children were very young. I taught them to tap me on my arm so I knew they wanted to talk to me. That way I could look at them and understand perfectly what was being said.

Today’s somewhat irritating example

Husband: mumble mumble dishwasher

Me: what?

Husband: dishwasher

Me: what about the dishwasher?

Husband: don’t fall over it, the door’s open on the dishwasher

This was while I was washing a chopping board and he was in the hallway with his back to me. He has one mitigating factor in that he broke 2 ribs a couple of days ago so that would explain the mumble, but this is a fairly typical conversation no matter how many times I say I can’t hear him when a) he has his back to me and b) he’s in a different room.

My wife is the one who has the always have the TV on. She sets it loud enough to hear in thr back 40. Sorry any old farmer’s phrase for the far back of the property. Then she starts to talking but I can’t understand what in the hack she is saying or even determine id it is her or the TV. Then she will come screaming in where I am and demanding I do something. I just say when you want my attention mute the cussed TV and come and face me and tell me what you want to say. Otherwise I can’t understand or hear a darn thing you say.

In reply to @Blue_Pearl1

I have after two years gotten bolder about asking a doctor, nurse, boss or the person leading a meeting to wear my small microphone which works with my hearing aid and the RESOUND app on my phone. I am surprised they are surprised even the nurses and doctors. I guess they have never been asked before. Unbelieveable but shows you how much in the shadows those of us with hearing loss live and how much ignorance and truthfully complete neglect of our needs as disabled in this country. It is not true outside of USA where you can enter a public event and it is equipped to be compatible with those with hearing loss. By law! Just like we finally have by law ramps in place for those who are in wheel chairs. We are behind the times in most everything here in the USA but most of us are unaware because we are also isolated geographically and the majority of us have never travelled outside the USA. Bottom line: Those with hearing loss are not factored in. It is also true for so many other levels of disability. Makes my blood boil. I hate the idea of anyone suffering in silence and feeling isolated surrounded by people. It is like being suffocated. We need to use our power and voices to advocate for change.

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