From interacting with co-workers during meetings at work to catching up with your spouse and kids at home, hearing loss, whatever degree, does indeed negatively impact your day-to-day relationships, business and social interactions.

If you are curious how a conversation “sounds” to the hearing impaired, check out this video:

Frustrating, isn’t it? Unfortunately, almost 50% of adults affected by hearing loss suffer what you just experienced above and do not seek treatment for it. On the other side of the equation, 23% of adults (or one in four adults) have a spouse or significant other who suffers from some degree of hearing loss. In the United States 27 million adults suffering from hearing loss blame their hearing disability as the Number One cause of their relationship problems, closely trailed by problems with their friends, family, and co-workers.

What’s more, imagine being on the other side and attempting to communicate with someone with hearing loss. It is not easy either with 32% of adults saying they get frustrated and annoyed with what they perceive to be a total lack of attention, 18% feeling just plain ignored, and 23% even feeling full-on grief.

Since successful relationships are based on the ability to effectively communicate not only emotionally but verbally, hearing loss can become a significant problem that, according to some studies, can even lead to divorce. Of 1,000 patients suffering from deafness, a huge one third confess their disability has, in fact, resulted in major, heartbreaking arguments. Furthermore, one in sixteen even had their partners threaten to leave or divorce them if they did not have a hearing test or seek treatment.

If you think your hearing needs to be checked, contact your nearest hearing centre today.

22 % of adults in Australia suffer a considerable level of hearing loss. What’s more, it has negative effects on their quality of life both at home and at work.

For example, individuals with hearing loss might be perceived as inattentive because they don’t tune in and respond normally when spoken to. They might also turn up the TV volume a little louder than normal. In addition, family and friends might criticise that they take too long picking up the phone. They could also have the habit of constantly asking people to repeat what they said.

As a result of the symptoms above, they may avoid social situations like parties or be uncharacteristically withdrawn at work meetings because they are afraid a misunderstanding might happen or that they will appear stupid or silly. Furthermore, in more excessive cases, individuals suffering from hearing loss might even suffer from self-esteem problems and self-confidence issues due to their inability to communicate with others.

Therefore, the three major ways hearing loss can affect your life negatively are:

• A decrease in your opportunities (jobs and education) due to your inability to communicate properly. This includes affecting job performance and even lower salaries as a result, leading to less retirement income and investment savings.
• Distancing yourself from other people and social situations to avoid embarrassment from your disability
• Severe emotional issues and a complete shift in personality due to lack of self-esteem and confidence in yourself as a result of your hearing loss.

Yes, overall, hearing loss, whether due to medication, diseases, or even age, can become depressing, annoying, frustrating, and most of all, isolating. Severe cases of individuals with hearing loss might require treatment for anxiety and depression as well as the patients becomes unresponsive and difficult to communicate with. However, hearing loss is also preventable and can be treated in many ways depending on severity. Contact your nearest hearing centre today.

Access economics did a report on the cost and impact of hearing loss in Australia. The report was commissioned by CRC HEAR and Victorian Deaf Society to try and qualify the impacts and estimates of the financial costs and loss of well-being from hearing loss.Nothing of this nature had been done prior in Australia.

The findings are somewhat scary and can be summed up as follows:

• 1 in 6 Australians are affected by hearing loss
• 3/4 Australians over 70 years old are impacted by hearing loss
• Projections are that 1 in 4 Australians will be affected by hearing loss by 2050

The impacts of hearing loss on individuals include:

• Reduced ability to communicate
• Ability to listen is reduced
• Ability to respond is reduced
• For some the ability to speak is impaired
• Other health effects are related to hearing loss
• While hearing aids and Cochlear implants can help, it is estimated 85% of those with hearing loss do not have such devices

The cost of hearing loss in Australia

• In 2005 this was $11,75bn or 1,4% of GDP
• This is $3,324 per person
• Main loss is that of productivity which is 57%
• Nearly 50% of those sufferring from hearing loss are 15-64 years old
• Cost of carers for these people is around 27%

In terms of health and hearing loss and disability weighting:

• Mild hearing loss is comparable to mild asthma
• Moderate hearing loss is comparable to chronic back pain
• Sever hearing loss is comparable to pneumonia on an ongoing basis

The full Access Economics report can be found here. The report was completed in 2006 but is still very relevant.

When you read these, the impact of hearing loss on an individual is severe and should not be ignored. While age and hearing loss seem to go in most cases hand in hand, look at the stats. This is not something you want to accelerate or bring forward.

Think about that next time you work in a noisy environment without hearing protection, got to a loud pub or crank up the volume on your MP3 player.

Read more on hearing loss on the main Free Hearing test website