Hearing loss affects friends and family, too

More than one in 10 Americans have some hearing loss, but an even greater number of people are affected because of the impact it has on their families and friends. No one understands this more than Ronna Fisher founder of The Hearing Health Center, who became an audiologist because of her personal experience dealing with a father with a hearing loss. 

"My father died a lonely and isolated man at the age of 53. Although the cause of death was officially a heart attack, his increasing hearing loss had been slowly eroding his life for years.

"He often missed the punch line or innuendo that had the rest of us in stitches. He looked so bewildered and left out, but it just wasn't funny anymore when it was repeated to him.

"Going to movies became disastrous. He'd whisper, 'What did they say?' But he couldn't hear you whisper back. By the fourth repetition, the entire theater was glaring at us. It was very embarrassing. My father stopped going to movies or plays or out to dinner or anywhere else that had the potential to make him feel humiliated or stupid."

Today, Fisher sees the same effect on relationships over and over again in her practice as a clinical audiologist and director of the Hearing Health Center. 

The greatest tragedy of hearing deterioration is the loss of intimacy and spontaneity in relationships. You avoid movies and social gatherings because its no fun for the person who can't hear nor is it enjoyable for the person who has to act as an interpreter," Fisher said. "Day-to-day family life is also profoundly affected."

Problems arise in relationships because people expect those who they speak with to answer them. 

"When the answers do not come, the questioners often become aggravated and people lose their patience," Fisher said. "People think you aren't paying attention or aren't interested enough to listen."

Studies have linked hearing loss to a lower quality of life stemming, from an inability to communicate with friends and family, depression and isolation from society. 

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared disease-specific and generic quality of life measures in patients with hearing losses who received hearing aids against those who did not. At the beginning of the study, a baseline test revealed that 82 percent of subjects felt that hearing impairment had a negative impact on quality of life and 24 percent of the subjects were depressed. 

The follow-up to the study revealed that those patients who received hearing aids could function more effectively both socially and emotionally, had better communication skills and were less depressed than those who did not receive hearing aids. 

But many people refuse to wear hearing aids because they remember the clunky earpieces of days gone by and think hearing aids are for 'old' people. State-of-the-art hearing aids can be as small as a pinky fingernail and can be fitted into the ear canal so that they are almost invisible. They also allow individuals to customize the hearing aid to their lifestyle, so the aid magnifies only the sounds they need to hear instead of background noise. 

"What's nice about the digital hearing aid is that it knows what is speech and what is not" Fisher said. 'Many of our patients who have switched to digital aids are thrilled because they are now comfortable in noisy situations like Chicago Bulls and Blackhawk games." 

Hearing Health Center was established by Fisher in 1984 to help improve the quality of patients' lives through comprehensive hearing health services by licensed professionals. It has locations in Naperville, Chicago and Oakbrook and offers a full range of products to assist in hearing, including devices which enable patients to hear otherwise inaudible telephones, doorbells or even smoke alarms.

To set up a hearing screening, contact the Hearing Health Center at (312) 263-7171.

Fisher received a master of science degree in audiology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1972. She is licensed audiologist and hearing aid dispenser for the state of Illinois, a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and she earned a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech and Hearing Association. This article was submitted by Ronna Fisher of Hearing Health Center, 1020 E. Ogden Ave., Naperville. 

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