It is easy to focus on lighting as as safety factor when age-a-fying a home. Our vision becomes less vivid and even with surgeries it is not easy to see in dim light. Enter the 22 year guaranty LED light bulbs. We should not have to get back up on a ladder to change them. But what about hearing? I am putting this under the simple ways category…straightforward information that does not bite.
I will accuse myself of having a Men are from Mars moment when I say it seems that the male of the species is effected by hearing difficulty at an earlier age. All of us will eventually lose some hearing. However, men may have been exposed to more industrial noise, and smoking and have blood sugar problems also contribute to hearing loss.
Hearing aids have always been expensive, and even with all those coupons and come-ons you get in the mail, you may end up paying up $2500 to $6000 for a hearing assessment and the actual device(s). Good news from the land of Do it yourself. Thanks to an NPR link, you can now do a hearing test over the phone http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/12/21/459397027/is-everybody-mumbling-try-a-hearing-test-you-take-on-the-phone
Vanity will be always a deterrent. New glasses yes , more light , get around to it, but who wants to admit that they are failing when it comes to hearing even normal conversation. They say one out of two people over the age of 65 will have problems, if you are the other half trying to communicate without shouting that is not the best of situations.
With vision you know what you are missing, how far do you sit from the TV, the computer screen. You know when the traffic signs are blurry. These are all reasons to get yourself checked out. You know what small print you used to be able to read. With hearing loss, the only immediate danger aspect may be walking outside and and not sensing approaching traffic. You can turn up the volume on some things, age friendly phones do that for you.
The insidious part is not just for safety sake , rather the slow eroding of social ties as you become less involved or part of the conversation. What you do not hear may hurt you and drive you into your own corner. Like having senior forgetful moments, asking others to repeat themselves, makes you self conscious. So why not do something about it, I know it is hard to admit, but it is harder to live with the consequences!
So enter just in time, other innovations that the aging crowd can take advantage of without the full cost of a hearing aide. A simple amplifier sounds good but there are a variety of products to help. I do not obliviously sell or try to endorse particular products but I found this article very well researched and well presented. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/health/hearing-aid-alternatives.html?hpw&rref=health&action=clickhttp://&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
Why leave a wall of fuzzy sound between you and the rest of the world. Check it out.
