According to various surveys of patients experiencing hearing loss, most people wait a minimum of seven years before purchasing hearing aids. Indeed, only approximately 16% of the 28.8 million Americans between the ages of 20-69 who would need hearing aids actually use them. For seniors, the ratio is a little better, as around 30% of people aged 70 or over with hearing loss wear hearing aids. 

According to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the average age at first for a first-time user buys their first hearing aid at 70. Unfortunately, hearing loss, while it’s prevalent among older adults, isn’t only caused by age. Millions of Americans below 60 fail to see how hearing aids could not only benefit them but also society in general. 

Here is a brief overview of how hearing aids can be a positive force in everyday society, and why an audiologist can be your best ally to maintain your lifestyle and communication skills. 

Hearing aids give you your hearing back

When you first discuss hearing loss with your audiologist, they will recommend a hearing examination to measure your hearing health. It’s precisely the results of your hearing test that serves as a guidance to find the most suitable hearing aids for the level of correction you need both in your social and professional life. While hearing aids don’t cure hearing loss, they provide correction via an amplification system. By amplifying the sounds you have difficulty hearing, hearing aids give you back your communication skills. 

Your audiologist can also suggest the best corrective device to fit your specific lifestyle requirements, ensuring you can gain the hearing comfort you need. For instance, some hearing aids have features to help you manage your communication needs in a loud environment, while others can provide multi-device interconnectivity between your TV or your laptop directly to the earpiece. As such, they let you choose how you want to hear. 

Hearing aids can give you the best of tech

It has become second nature to most adults in working age to develop tech-savviness and tech-affinity. In a high-paced workplace, it is expected from employees to be agile with the latest technology. As such, the idea of wearing innovative hearing aids that are optimized for everyday use in a tech-friendly environment can make the earpiece more appealing. 

As mentioned before, some hearing aids feature Bluetooth connectivity, enabling you to receive sound input from connected devices directly to your earpiece. For people who work in an environment where they need to edit or modify videos and sounds, your audiologist can help you to find the best connectivity feature. 

Additionally, some hearing aids also connect to an app that acts as a remote control, letting users change predefined settings at the click of a button for smooth integration and adjustment to your everyday communication needs. 

You can find out more about the different features and how they can help you with your audiologist. 

Hearing aids connect you with people

Hearing loss can be an isolating experience, as people report they intentionally avoid social gatherings for fear of feeling uncomfortable or confused in an environment where they can’t make out sounds. Wearing hearing aids can not only avoid any communication issues by making sure you get to hear the people around you, but they also make it easier to reconnect with friends and relatives. 

Loud environments, especially, can be a source of difficulties for people who experience hearing loss. Indeed, while the brain can often adjust and compensate for the sounds you’ve missed in a one-to-one conversation, when you’re in a loud environment, your brain can’t make the difference between the background noise and the voice of the person next to you. Hearing aids, however, can help you navigate social events with a background noise adjustment and multidirectional microphones, to ensure you only hear what you want to hear. 

Hearing aids erase the stigma

Hearing loss can be a source of stress and self-confidence issues. Experiencing hearing loss is a handicap in everyday life, a lot of people feel embarrassed about their condition. However, your audiologist works with you to not only find hearing aids that provide the level of sound amplification you need, but that are also as discrete as possible. Some hearing aids can be completely invisible when they are placed inside the canal of your ear. Others, such as the behind-the-ear (BTE) earpieces, can be hidden from sight by your ear and hairstyle, making them almost impossible to spot for your interlocutors. 

For a lot of people who experience hearing loss, wearing hearing aids can be a significant life improvement. If you want to find out more about how hearing aids could enhance your communication, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Audiology Clinics of Puerto Rico at the following phone numbers, Aguadilla at (888) 745-2793 and Mayaguez at (888) 699-7401.