I can’t count the number of times since I started wearing hearing aids that I have had friends, co-workers, or even casual acquaintances from my neighborhood or church who have said, “Would you please talk to my ___ (dad/mom/sister/fill in the blank…) about wearing hearing aids?” Mostly I am approached because I am relatively young to have them. I was 34 when I got my first set. And granted the larger population of the hearing impaired, are those with ‘age related’ loss; but then there are the rest of us. I happen to have a congenital defect that took its time showing up.

I remember one of my early conversations with the audiologist I worked with when getting my first set. We were discussing the different types available CIC (completely in the canal), ITC (in the canal), ITE (in the ear), or BTE (behind the ear). She said if I was concerned about people seeing the aids… I told her,” I don’t give a rat’s a** about that, I just – want – to – hear. What’s the best thing you’ve got?”

And let me be blunt with those of you out there that are that “dad/mom/sister/fill in the blank…” who are perhaps embarrassed or maybe in denial about their loss… Really? You aren’t going to do something about this? You know, hearing loss doesn’t happen in isolation. It doesn’t affect just you. It affects everyone and I do mean everyone that you interact with, too. And frankly, it’s just rude not take care of it. And truly? It’s selfish. You are basically saying, “I am more important than any of you, EVERYONE else should make the effort to accommodate me”. And that’s just sad. We owe it to the people around us to invest in our communication.

Whether you admit it or not or even realize it or not, you are, in fact, inflicting damage on your close interpersonal relationships – your spouse, your children, your best friend, your boss. By not dealing with it, you are intentionally cutting yourself off from them. Mourn your loss. That is a healthy response on the way to acceptance of your “new normal”. Not dealing with it? – so not okay.

Back to my story… I did end up going with the BTE’s – the largest, most visible type. They had the most “whistles and bells”. I did at least get dark brown ones so they would “blend” with my hair. So yeah, I’m a girl and more often than not wear my hair long so my aids would supposedly be “hidden”. But honestly, I am lazy when it comes to my hair and nine out ten days wear it up, pony tail, bun, whatever. Hearing aids fully exposed for all to see. Would you believe that unless I point it out, people just don’t notice them. I can’t tell you the number of times I would tell someone that had just been standing behind me when my hair was up, and the response was, “Really? I didn’t know you had hearing problems”. All I can think is, “What? Are you blind? The ‘giant’ aids perched on my ears didn’t clue you in? Seriously?” This scenario happens all the time, still. Even with people I work with and have known for a long time. Really folks, no reason to be self-conscious about them; people just don’t notice.

And hey, since they offer it these days, when I get my next set, I think I am going to go all out and get one of the “fashion colors” like ‘Ruby Red’ (think Dorothy’s red slippers). At this point I would rather people notice, it will help them know that I am not being rude and ignoring them; I just might not have heard them. 🙂