Living with hearing loss is never easy as this impairment affects all aspects of your life. Almost one in six adult Americans is living with hearing loss of some degree. As such, they had to adapt their habits to ensure that the quality of their lives remained unchanged. Here are some things you might want to consider doing when your hearing starts to go.
Use Hearing Aids
By amplifying the sounds around you, hearing aids can help you hear better despite hearing loss. Using them will be enough to help most people. They will allow you to maintain your social life, which is an important aspect of dealing with any type of impairment. But they’re not always effective in patients with severe hearing loss. If hearing aids don’t help you, cochlear implants could.
Ask Your Doctor about Cochlear Implants
Hearing loss is usually a result of damaged hair cells in your ear. But the cochlear implant sends information straight to the auditory nerve. From there, it travels on to your brain, thus bypassing the hair cells altogether. Before you opt for the implants, talk to your doctor to see if they’re the right choice for you.
Turn On Subtitles
Most television stations broadcast some type of subtitles for hearing impaired viewers. They are either available as closed captions, via Teletext, or as a digital stream. If you prefer to catch up on your favorite programs on streaming, you’ll find that most of them also provide English subtitles. This is a great way for you to keep enjoying your shows even when living with hearing loss.
Seek Help Early in the Process
As soon as you notice you may be losing your hearing, you need to talk to your doctor. The sooner you start treatment, the better your chances of preventing further damage to your hearing. With the variety of options available right now, there’s no reason to delay treatment. It will give you a lot more freedom and make a living with hearing loss much more manageable.
