Hearing loss can affect many areas of your daily life. Neglected hearing loss, for example, can impact your professional life, your favorite pastimes, and even your relationships. Communication can become strained for couples who are coping with hearing loss. This can cause increased stress, more disputes, and even the development of animosity. If neglected, in other words, hearing loss can have a substantially negative impact on your relationship.
So how are relationships impacted by hearing loss? In part, these tribulations occur because the parties aren’t aware of the hearing loss. Hearing loss usually is, after all, a slowly developing condition. As a result, you (and your partner) might not recognize that hearing loss is the root cause of your communication issues. This can lead to both partners feeling alienated and can make it hard to find workable solutions.
Often, a diagnosis of hearing loss coupled with helpful strategies from a hearing specialist can help couples begin communicating again, and improve their relationships.
Can hearing loss impact relationships?
It’s very easy to disregard hearing loss when it initially begins to develop. Couples can have considerable misunderstandings as a result of this. The following common problems can develop as a result:
- Couples frequently confuse hearing loss for “selective hearing”: Selective hearing is what occurs when someone hears “we’re having brownies for dessert” very clearly, but somehow doesn’t hear “we need to take out the garbage before we eat”. Sometimes, selective hearing is totally unintentional, and in others, it can be a conscious decision. Spouses will often begin to miss certain words or phrases or these words and phrases will sound garbled when one of them has hearing loss. This can often be mistaken for “selective hearing,” leading to resentment and tension in the relationship.
- Intimacy may suffer: In lots of relationships, communication is the foundation of intimacy. And when that communication becomes harder, all parties may feel more separated from each other. Increased tension and frustration are frequently the consequence.
- Arguments: It isn’t abnormal for arguments to occur in a relationship, at least, sometimes. But when hearing loss is present, those arguments can be even more aggravating. For some couples, arguments will ignite more often because of an increase in misunderstandings. Hearing loss related behavioral changes, like requiring volumes to be painfully loud, can also become a source of tension
- Feeling ignored: You would probably feel like you’re being disregarded if you addressed somebody and they didn’t respond. This can often happen when one partner is experiencing hearing loss and isn’t aware of it. Feeling as if your partner is not paying attention to you isn’t good for long-term relationship health.
In many cases, this friction begins to happen before any actual diagnosis of hearing loss. If somebody doesn’t know that hearing loss is at the core of the problem, or if they are disregarding their symptoms, feelings of resentment could be worse.
Living with a person who is dealing with loss of hearing
If hearing loss can create so much conflict in a relationship, how can you live with someone who is dealing with hearing loss? This will only be an issue for couples who aren’t willing to establish new communication strategies. Some of those strategies include the following:
- Try to talk face-to-face as frequently as possible: Communicating face-to-face can provide a wealth of visual clues for somebody with hearing loss. You will be supplying your partner with body language and facial cues. It’s also easier to maintain concentration and eye contact. This supplies your partner with more information to process, and that usually makes it easier to understand your intent.
- Help your partner get used to their hearing aids: Perhaps you could do things like taking over the grocery shopping or other tasks that cause your partner anxiety. You can also ask your partner’s hearing specialist if there are ways you can help them get accustomed to their hearing aids.
- Make use of different words when you repeat yourself: When your partner doesn’t hear what you said, you will usually try repeating yourself. But instead of using the same words again and again, try changing things up. Hearing loss can impact some frequencies of speech more than others, which means certain words may be harder to understand (while others are easier). Your message can be reinforced by changing the words you utilize.
- Encourage your partner to come in for a hearing exam: Your partner’s hearing loss can be controlled with our help. Many areas of tension will fade away and communication will be more successful when hearing loss is well managed. Safety is also an issue with hearing loss because it can cause you to fail to hear the doorbell, phone, and smoke alarm. It might also be difficult to hear oncoming traffic. We can help your partner better control any of these potential concerns.
- Patience: When you recognize that your partner has hearing loss, patience is particularly important. You might have to change the way you talk, like raising your volume for example. You may also have to talk more slowly. The effectiveness of your communication can be significantly improved by practicing this type of patience.
What happens after you get diagnosed?
Hearing examinations are generally non-invasive and really simple. In most instances, people who are tested will do little more than wear specialized headphones and raise a hand when they hear a sound. You will be better able to regulate your symptoms and your relationships after you get a diagnosis.
Encouraging your partner to get in touch with us can help guarantee that hearing loss doesn’t sabotage your happiness or your partnership.