Better Hearing = Better Living

At times the first step can be the biggest one.  In talking to patients I have come to realize that the journey to the front door of my clinic can be the longest, most difficult one.  It would appear to those who suspect they have a hearing loss coming in for a simple hearing test does not just represent knowledge. It potentially represents a prejudged string of events that many find daunting.  A hearing test can take away one’s ability to continue to deny that they have a hearing problem.

I just had a conversation with one of my patients that had felt this way.  This woman was having trouble hearing in her workplace and finally made an appointment to see me.  She didn’t want to use a hearing aid; she didn’t want to be hearing impaired but her reality was that she did have a hearing loss and she did need hearing aids.  Today, weeks after being first fit with hearing aids, she sat in my office telling me how much her hearing aids were helping her to live her life to its fullest.  This woman puts her hearing aids on in the morning and forgets about them.  She simply hears…in the workplace, in the boardroom and socially.  As this woman describes it “life is now better.” 

The first step to better hearing may be hardest but perhaps it will lead to a life lived to its fullest.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

In 1993 when I started my clinic I was young and single with so much in life that would change in the next 20 years. The snap shot that one would take of my personal life would be very different than it would be currently. From the very beginning of my life as an Audiologist I was always very comfortable sharing a view into my personal life as my patients and I got to know each other, so it was not out of character for the proud new father to have his office plastered with pictures of his newborn son in1995. Even in the beginning the effect on my patients was a significant one. As was often the case the initial conversation I would have with my patients would center around those pictures.  In the next ten years we had five more children, all of them boys, yes that is six boys in ten years. My office wall had a great deal of pediatric content with all the pictures of my children that I wished my day to be surrounded with. I had these pictures on the wall for myself so that in the moments I had to myself I could sit back in my chair and take in my family. I could look at a picture and smile as I considered what that look on that child’s face represented. Many of the pictures that were (and are) on my wall have been candid shots of the boys in play, just living life. There are pictures of my two year old on the beach his face plastered in sand stuck to the left over virgin Pinna Colada that he had spilled on his face, or the picture of my three year old at the ski slope happily skiing with his brothers, or my boys held in my embrace, or another boy with a lump of snow on his stuck out tongue with a big smile on his face, or what I think is my patients favourite the picture of one of my boys dangling a big juicy worm over his mouth as his brothers had dared him to eat it after seeing the movie “How to Eat Fried Worms”, and yes I think he ate it. I have come to understand over the years what a profound effect those pictures have had on all that have seen them. The grandparent that walks in my office can’t help but relate to their grandchildren, the parent to their own children and their experiences and so on.  There is an interesting phenomenon that I have observed that has really made me think relating to this topic. When I have toddlers and even babies in office it is amazing to me to see how they tend to gravitate to the things in the office that they relate to such as the pictures of children on the wall, or my not so obviously placed treasure chest or a random toy in the office. . Children seem to notice these things long before adults. I can’t tell you how many children I have had conversations with regarding “the boy eating the worm” as a way of making the child comfortable with this clinical environment. The point is that we all want to have something in common with each other, we wish to relate to and personalize the health professionals we come in contact with, there is a need to humanize the interactions that we have in a potentially uncomfortable professional environment. This understanding has been one that has become apparent to me over the years and as a result we now have in our clinic intentional processes and directives to enable our staff to engage our patients from the moment they reach out to us. When we hire, we hire staff that enjoy getting to know other people, that have a very real and authentic approach to the relationships they build. It is human nature to work harder for those that we connect with and know, which is why I love the fact that my staff take great joy in getting to know each and every patient that they come in contact with.  

What Is Your Story ?

There is much I learn from my patients. I may not have a hearing loss but if I listen to my patients I gain a greater understanding of what their struggles can be like. I have a patient who shared this story with me. We were talking about some things that were difficult for her relative to her hearing and how she coped with them, what strategies she used. Keep in mind that this particular patient has a severe to profound hearing loss. So many of her daily situations are ones I never thought about.

Problem: going through a Time Hortons drive through. What do you do once you put your order in and  the person at the other end wants to tell you something or ask you something that you can not possibly hear? place your order and start your can moving before they can say anything.

Problem: how do you know when your seat number for your airplane trip is being called? Ask a friend to hear for you.

Problem: how do you hear your husbands conversation at bedtime or nighttime when the lights are out?


Coping strategies vary depending on the degree of hearing loss as well as the cognitive abilities of the impaired individual, as well as the complexity of the situation and so many other variables. We have all met people with hearing loss and may or may not recognize the strategies that are being employed.

Strategies

Talk too much : I have many patients that seem to talk a lot being gregarious with so much to say, so much so that you may not a get a word in edgewise. Sometimes this is a strategy to get by, as it is too difficult to listen it becomes easier to talk keeping the subject matter under ones own control.

Smile and nod: Here is another strategy, not a good one but a strategy non the less. We have all met that individual with a hearing impairment that seems so jovial, that seems to smile and nod a lot but not have a lot to say that fits the conversation. The problem is when you smile and nod and that universal response was not appropriate to the other end of the conversation. Who knows what one might have agreed to do  or how a smile and nod might not have been appropriate to the gravity of the conversation.

Not respond: I have had many a patient that one might have thought to be unfriendly or stuck up as they did not seem to want to respond in conversation when the reality is they just could't hear.


So I ask the question "how do you get by" or "what is your story"?

I would like to start a forum of dialogue where these experiences can be shared. It is good to know that you are not alone in your struggles and that the strategies we end up having to use are ones that many use. Please share this post on your facebook page and invite your hearing impaired friends to contribute to this dialogue.