Week 1530 - If You are Hearing Impaired, Think of Those Around You and Use a Hearing Aid...Please

The Concept Explained

Counting Down to 90 - Week 1579

Why 1579

Bhavin's WritingsBhavin Jankharia

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Two days ago, I was counseling an 87-years old man, MB who had been referred for a CT guided biopsy. He was otherwise fit and greeted me with a “Good Morning” as he sat down smiling. He was accompanied by two people.

I introduced myself and after understanding the relationship between the patient and the people with him (son and daughter-in-law), asked my standard question, “Are you able to hear and understand what I am saying?”. He said no and the son told me that MB was hard of hearing and that I would need to raise my voice to communicate with him.

I asked about hearing aids and they proudly said that he didn’t use any and that they were able to manage very well at home without hearing aids.

I had to then raise my voice to a decibel level that was almost at a shouting pitch and spend about 5 minutes explaining the procedure, potential complications and what I needed from him (no movement and quiet shallow breathing). I was tired at the end and I now know from years of losing my temper that this probably had led to a spike in my blood pressure and was going to give me a headache later in the day.

I was angry and I spoke to the son and his wife and told them that this was unfair to me and perhaps to all the other doctors that they were in touch with. Why should I have to raise my voice, which now at age 60 is tiring, when they could have made the effort to use a hearing aid. There has been a revolution in hearing aids in recent years, and even if those hard of hearing find them cumbersome to use daily at home, they need to put them on when interacting with others. 

Those hard of hearing, need to think of the effect their hearing loss has on people they are interacting with and understand the pain the extra effort of speaking loudly has on those who are trying to converse with them.

I have interacted with kids and young adults who have congenital hearing loss. There is almost always a family member who is able to translate back and forth with sign language and that’s fine. 

But a lot of those currently in their 70s and 80s with hearing impairment seem hesitant to use hearing aids, or if they do use them, avoid using them in public spaces or when interacting with people outside their homes…perhaps they feel it diminishes them (it doesn’t) or they feel proud not to use a crutch to manage. 

I’ve had just a couple of patients who had tried every hearing aid possible and none worked. In that case, I am happy to put in the effort to find a way to communicate, including speaking loudly or shouting. I also wrote about a patient who was so tech savvy in his 80s, that we used Google Live Transcribe to communicate with each other…he had come prepared with all this…I would speak, he would read and then answer me or ask me a question. It took 25% more time, which was fine, but the communication was seamless. 

Maybe I should have done this, but we had not known of the hearing impairment in advance because the relatives clearly had never thought of the adverse effect this has on the doctors facing them. Priming the app at that time and then explaining to the patient and relatives what we were going to do and hoping that the patient would be able to read…that would have taken far longer than me just raising my voice and speaking loudly, despite its draining effect on me.

Hearing loss needs to be addressed. If you are hard of hearing, you should be aware of the negative impact it can have on your health, with an increased incidence of dementia and a reduced lifespan. Addressing hearing loss is an important part of our atmasvasth quest to live long, healthy. But more importantly, you should also think of what it does to those around you, and the stress it creates for your care-givers and people you have to interact with. It is selfish of you to make others around you adopt ways and means of communication that involve speaking loudly or with gestures or into your ears when you could easily use a tech fix that makes everyone’s lives easier. 

If you have the means to buy hearing aids, there is no excuse for not using one. Even if you don’t care about your own health and convenience, think of those around you…you using a hearing aid, will make theirs and our lives easier.