5 Reasons Why People Deny Hearing Loss

It takes the average person with hearing loss 5 to 7 years before pursuing a qualified professional diagnosis, in spite of the fact that the signs and symptoms of hearing loss are crystal clear to other people. But are those with hearing loss simply too stubborn to get help? No, actually, and for a few different reasons.

Perhaps you know someone with hearing loss who either denies the problem or refuses to seek out professional help, and even though this is undoubtedly frustrating, it is very conceivable that the indications of hearing loss are much more apparent to you than they are to them.

Here are the reasons why:

1. Hearing loss is gradual

In most occurrences, hearing loss takes place so gradually over time that the affected individual simply doesn’t notice the change. While you would recognize an instant change from normal hearing to a 25 decibel hearing loss (specified as moderate hearing loss), you wouldn’t perceive the modest change of a 1-2 decibel loss.

So a gradual loss of 1-2 decibels over 10-20 years, while producing a 20-40 total decibel loss, is not going to be noticeable at any given moment in time for those impacted. That’s why friends and family are almost always the first to detect hearing loss.

2. Hearing loss is often partial (high-frequency only)

The majority of hearing loss examples are categorized as high-frequency hearing loss, indicating that the afflicted person can still hear low-frequency background sounds normally. Even though speech, which is a high-frequency sound, is challenging for those with hearing loss to understand, other sounds can usually be heard normally. This is why it’s typical for those with hearing loss to assert, “my hearing is fine, everyone else mumbles.”

3. Hearing loss is not addressed by the family doctor

People suffering with hearing loss can obtain a mistaken sense of well-being following their annual physical. It’s quite common to hear people say “if I had hearing loss, my doctor would have told me.”

This is of course not true because only 14% of physicians regularly screen for hearing loss during the yearly checkup. Not to mention that the prime symptom for most cases of hearing loss — trouble comprehending speech in the presence of background noise — will not present itself in a silent office environment.

4. The burden of hearing loss can be shared or passed on to others

How do you treat hearing loss when there’s no cure? The solution is easy: amplify sounds. The issue is, although hearing aids are the most effective at amplifying sounds, they are not the only way to accomplish it — which individuals with hearing loss promptly find out.

Those with hearing loss oftentimes crank up the volume on everything, to the detriment of those around them. TVs and radios are played exceptionally loud and people are made to either shout or repeat themselves. The person with hearing loss can manage just fine with this strategy, but only by passing on the burden to friends, family members, and co-workers.

5. Hearing loss is pain-free and invisible

Hearing loss is mainly subjective: it cannot be diagnosed by visible examination and it generally is not accompanied by any pain or discomfort. If people with hearing loss do not recognize a problem, mainly due to the reasons above, then they probably won’t take action.

The only method to properly diagnose hearing loss is through audiometry, which will measure the precise decibel level hearing loss at multiple sound frequencies. This is the only way to objectively say whether hearing loss is present, but the tricky part is needless to say getting to that point.

How to approach those with hearing loss

Hopefully, this entry has manufactured some empathy. It is always exasperating when someone with hearing loss refuses to admit the problem, but keep in mind, they may legitimately not fully grasp the severity of the problem. Rather than demanding that they get their hearing tested, a more effective approach may be to educate them on the components of hearing loss that make the condition essentially invisible.