Tips for when a parent has mild hearing issues?

[Anonymous]

I am 37 and lost my hearing in one ear after my second child was born (otosclerosis). While I will eventually get surgery for it, given that I had a baby at the time I went out and got a hearing aid asap. It helps so much and has made all of my interactions better - and you can't really even notice it.

I'm a little confused by the pp that said that a hearing aid isn't good for that situation - OP, the best thing to do is get a hearing test and evaluate your options with a hearing specialist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a hearing aid. I did, at 47. Plus kids are hard to hear anyway when in front of you, well for me. It is not cheap but I got a hearing aid as I promised myself I will not be one of those stubborn people who refuse to get it as they lose their hearing, that is my grandma, now my mom, my FIL, my aunt.... The thing is people act like you are an idiot when you have hearing impairment. Yet, nobody is telling a blind person to just walk down the darn stairs, are they? What I found is that no matter how many times you tell even your spouse and kids and even you own mother that can't hear not to tell you thinks when you are upstairs and they are downstairs, people still do it! And then it is still your fault. Sadly, the only option was for me to get a hearing aid, as I realized people will continue to be ignorant when it comes to hearing impediment. It is like I became an idiot!

I am totally deaf in one ear. If people are talking from that direction, usually I can't hear them at all. My experience is people think I'm being a jerk and ignoring them - a deliberate snub! - when I simply never heard them at all.

A hearing aid doesn't really help with this, unfortunately, because it only works in the good ear, and I'm still deaf on the other side.

Would you be eligible for a cochlear implant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 37 and lost my hearing in one ear after my second child was born (otosclerosis). While I will eventually get surgery for it, given that I had a baby at the time I went out and got a hearing aid asap. It helps so much and has made all of my interactions better - and you can't really even notice it.

I'm a little confused by the pp that said that a hearing aid isn't good for that situation - OP, the best thing to do is get a hearing test and evaluate your options with a hearing specialist.

Me again - also wanted to say if you haven't had your ears checked out yet, what tipped off my ENT as to what was going on (after multiple doctors misdiagnosed) was that I had recently had a baby - otosclerosis can be made worse by hormones from pregnancy and breastfeeding. Your symptoms sound very similar to mine, and I realized I actually had pretty substantial hearing loss - the other ear was overcompensating a lot. I'm so glad I got a hearing aid because things are much better now (and vanity-wise, it's really fine, plus I get to crack a lot of jokes about it).