Celebrate Better Hearing and Speech Month

It’s Better Hearing and Speech Month.  

SoundPrint partner ReSound joins with others in the hearing healthcare industry to remind us that hearing plays a major role in our quality of life, from our emotional, well-being and physical health to our careers and leisure activities.  In the United States, the NIH reports that nearly 30 million U.S. adults with hearing loss could benefit from using hearing aid.   

Here are just a few hearing aid “Truths and Myths.”  You can learn more at Hear Well. Stay Vital.  

I don’t need hearing aids. My hearing is mostly fine.

Myth: When you have a hearing loss in some frequencies and not others, it is easier to dismiss it as unimportant. However, even a mild hearing loss can adversely affect your cognitive capabilities, work, home, and social life. Fortunately, the brain’s neuroplasticity means that treating hearing loss allows the brain to relearn how to hear. Proper hearing aid use correlates with improved outlook, mood, mobility, independence, communication, and social interaction

On average, people wait 5 to 7 years before seeking help for their hearing loss.

Truth:  Five to seven years is a very long time to have to struggle with your hearing. Why do people wait that long? There are many reasons why people live with hearing loss. Fewer than 16 percent of family doctors test for hearing loss. Hearing loss is so gradual that it’s hard to notice. Hearing loss frequently occurs for higher pitched sounds, which means some lower pitched sounds and voices may be heard normally, creating the perception of normal hearing. Many people assume hearing loss is age-related and it’s either something to be accepted or something to be ashamed of. Annual hearing testing may help those with hearing loss gain a quicker diagnosis, treatment, and benefit from hearing aids that come in a number of different colors and styles.

Hearing loss affects only older adults.

Myth: Hearing loss does not discriminate. About two-thirds of all hearing loss is in people under 65 years of age.5 Even more alarming is that today 1 in 5 teenagers (ages 12 – 19) have hearing loss in one or both ears from listening to music too loud, illness, medications or genetics. The World Health Organization has warned that 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of hearing loss “due to the unsafe use of personal audio devices, including smartphones, and exposure to damaging levels of sound at noisy entertainment venues such as nightclubs, bars, and sporting events.”

Better hearing starts with a hearing test.  Check out ReSound’s free online hearing test today.