How to convince a loved one to do something about their hearing loss

Show them the benefits.

As you may know, the benefits of hearing instruments reach beyond regaining lost sound. Hearing instruments relieve the fatigue that comes from straining to hear. They add richness and texture to everyday life. And they make it easier to engage in conversations, take part in social activities and reconnect with friends and family. Most importantly,hearing instruments help prevent serious conditions such as anxiety, depression and dementia that are associated with untreated hearing loss. 

There are many sources of information you can use to share these benefits with your loved one. In addition to what you might find on the Internet, it’s a good idea to visit a hearing care professional on your own, ask questions, and see what printed literature is available. 

One of the most effective ways to communicate the benefits, though, is to arrange a face-to-face chat between your loved one and someone who has already begun the journey. Find someone, perhaps a friend, who wears hearing instruments and can share a personal success story with before-and-after scenarios and a realistic picture of what it’s like to live with them. This may be the best way to help your loved one see that the perceived disincentives are often misperceptions, and that the benefits make the small adjustment well worth it.

Go from awareness to wholeness.

Awareness will probably be the hardest part of the battle. Once you’ve achieved it, you need to keep things moving with positive reinforcement as you help your loved one through the process of getting evaluated and fitted by a hearing care professional. With a graphic medical picture of your loved one’s hearing loss, there’s little further room for denial. And with the kind of trial arrangements that many hearing care professionals have, the adjustment can be easy and risk-free. 

You should make yourself aware of the steps involved, set your loved one’s expectations accordingly, and make sure that the vision is always in sight of a life that’s better in every way... for everyone in the family.