BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Deafness Brits favour sight over hearing

Only 10% of people in the UK have not had an eye test, yet 81% of people have never had a hearing test. (I wonder if this is because we know that a hearing aid wont fix the problem whereas glasses do!)

80% of people would be comfortable wearing glasses but only 66% would be comfortable wearing a hearing aid. 1 in 7 in the UK have a hearing loss but most loss is mild and so they are not aware of it. This does seem to be because there is still a stigma attached to wearing a hearing aid and out of date information about hearing aids.
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Interestingly, twice recently I have come across deaf/blind people and without exception they have said they would rather be blind than deaf. Blindness cuts people off from things but deafness cuts people off socially. Deafness is a lonely place.

Hi I don't know whether it's just us Brits who favour sight over hearing, or whether society generally is on the whole more than a little vain and as a result people are more likely to accept that they need glasses and will wear them but put off getting hearing aids. I know that when I finally had my hearing tested earlier this year my audiologist said that I'd probably been living with a hearing loss for several years and could have got a hearing aid a couple of years ago.I think that looking back I didn't want to be told that I was hard of hearing and needed an aid. I now have to shamefully admit that I'm glad I did do something about my hearing loss as whilst my hearing aid isn't perfect, I can hear a lot better with it than I used to do without it. Ian

The average person waits 6 years before getting a hearing aid. While most of us think sight is more 'important' than hearing, in fact people who become deaf/blind almost always say they'd rather be blind. Blindness cuts you off from the world around you but deafnesss cuts you off from people. Helen Keller said she would have preferred to be blind and not deaf.

Hi Felicity Why do we all find it so difficult to accept?(I include myself in the "we").Deafness I mean. After all, when we finally decide to do something about our hearing loss the reaction from partners, friends etc is usually "Hooray!At long last he's realised!" (Or at least it was in my case). Even though I know that wearing a hearing aid does not give me back the hearing I once had, the sight of a BTE hearing aid in my right ear gives other people (who don't know me) a bit of clue that I might be deaf/hard of hearing. Oh, and at last I feel justified at having the subtitles on when we (my partner and I) watch TV!! Ian

Gidday Ian
The average time a person takes to get a hearing aid from when they actually need it is about 6 years. At first we don't recognise we have a problem (because sound fades gradually and we blame others for not speaking clearly etc.) Then there was a huge stigma to wearing a hearing aid. It equated with old and stupid (deaf & dumb which actually means deaf and mute) so we don't want to be seen that way.

I also think that wearing a hearing aid is often such a negative experience because it doesn't return all sound - ie it can't give you back frequencies you no longer hear. So it's a disappointment, you wear a device which can often be uncomfortable and still not get a good outcome (even if it is better than without it!).

Then there is the mistaken idea with people who don't understand deafness that wearing an aid will be like wearing glasses and you will hear perfectly - unrealistic expectations.

Hi Felicity I think that there is a perception amongst those with "normal" hearing that wearing hearing aids only happens in old age. We were in a department store in town and I was at the check out paying for a purchase. The cashier was a woman who was slightly older than myself and my partner. She said something that I didn't quite hear and I said that I hadn't heard her and asked her to repeat herself and face me when she spoke as I wear a hearing aid. Guess what she said? She actually said "Aren't you a little young for a hearing aid"!! I didn't know whether to feel insulted or ahsamed of the fact that I wear an aid or whether to be pleased because I don't look over 50! My response to her was "Actually I'm a little hard of hearing, that's why I NEED one. I guess people don't understand that deafness has no regard for age. Thank you for continuing to write wonderful articles. Ian

Somehow I have never associated hearing aids with age - although I do know there is this perception. So I guess I'm a bit shocked by the response

I prefer to think that her reaction to my appearing "not to be old enough to wear a hearing aid" is tied in to the thought that many people have and that is that needing a hearing aid is only something that happens in old age and is a corner stone of the stigma attached to wearing an aid when someone is under 65! Ian

Hi Felicity There's a good article on the website www.hear-it.org about how new hearing aid wearers are affected by being self-conscious about the appearance of their hearing aids. This was the subject of a stody carried out in 2008 by a guy at Frankfurt University in Germany. Doesn't this link to the stigma surrounding hearing loss and hearing aids that we have to bear? Ian

It's true there has been a stigma about wearing hearing aids. For me they signified that I was stupid... now I'm not (of course) but people think we are when we answer or react inappropriately because we don't hear.

There is also a mistaken assumption that hearing aids will restore good hearing (in the way glasses give us back good vision). But of course that's not the case is it!

Having said that I do think there is a change in attitude. I couldn't care less who knows about my cochlear implant/processor. For me the reason for this is because the Cochlear Implant/processor does restore my hearing (I am 100%deaf without wearing it) and it's so amazing to be able to hear again that I want to shout about it from the roof tops.

Seasons greetings to you and your family.

Hi Bit of an update. I had my hearing tested again back in January as I felt my hearing in my unaided left ear wasn't as good as it used to be. Strange isn't it how we go for years living in denial then when we are first diagnosed and told that we are really hard of hearing and get a first hearing aid, how we then become more ready to notice or suspect that our hearing has changed! Anyway my tests showed that my deafness has gotten worse particularly in my left ear, and I've got a "moderate ski-slope high frequency loss" in that ear to go with the previously diagnosed moderate flat high frequency loss in my right ear. In March I was fitted with a BTE hearing aid for my left ear and now I feel great! My hearing feels more balanced, I'm comfortable with being hard of hearing, and this may sound strange to some or a lot of people, but I'm finding that I love wearing my hearing aids as I can hear much, much better! Ian

Ian It is great that you are enjoying wearing your hearing aids. If they help you hear then that's why you like it. Unfortunately for many people though a hearing aid can't help. I was one of those. I got only a small amount of help from my hearing aid and often the additional sound was distorted. I was always being asked why I wouldn't wear it all the time but sound was just horrible. So for me having the Cochlear implants removed that distortion and allowed me to hear properly - probably better than I have for about 40 years.