Hearing Loss And Age

The perception about hearing aids in general is that only older people need hearing aids. However, this is not true because hearing loss can occur at any age.

It may be since birth or can occur later in life like early childhood, adolescence, early adulthood or late adulthood. Hearing loss can be partial or complete Severe Or Profound in Degree It can be in one or both the ears, it can be similar in both the ears i.e. Symmetrical or different i.e. Asymmetrical.

• Hearing loss irrespective of age of onset i.e. the age at which it occured or the degree or severity; affects not only the person with hearing loss but also his/her family.
• Young children who have hearing loss since birth or soon after the birth find it most difficult to acquire language and develop speech, in consequence their education, social maturity and perspective of world gets affected.
• For young adults with hearing loss, higher education, desirable work placement, telephonic conversation, socialization and finding suitable partner for marriage are some of the challenges that they have to face.

The persons in their middle age face yet another set of difficulties such as moving up in hierarchy in their professional life, stigma of not being able to communicate efficiently and effectively in a group or over the phone. For persons in their late adulthood, besides communication difficulty, issues such as safety on roads, managing life on their own, take forefront.

Loneliness which is common during these years, gets intensified due to hearing loss. Its been observed in many cases that long standing and unattended hearing loss can lead to memory loss. With hearing loss and memory loss, quality of life for that person and his/her family takes a deep impact.

Getting one’s hearing tested in time is of paramount importance irrespective of age. Hearing aids help most of the persons with hearing loss if they are well selected and also selected at right time.