Noticing that a loved one, especially a parent, is beginning to lose their hearing. They may not even be aware of the issue which lead to a stressful, complex and emotional situation.
It is common for Dads of a certain age (and all older adults for that matter) to experience age-related hearing loss, and while this can be well-managed, telling a parent that they don’t seem to be able to hear conversations or have turned up the TV to an incredibly high volume is tough.
Our advice would be to deal with the issue rather than ignoring or avoiding it, as it’s very likely that initial signs of hearing loss will only worsen without the right help. It’s also probable that your father knows his hearing isn’t what it was and either doesn’t recognise the severity of hearing loss or is hoping it isn’t noticeable.
Handling Hearing Loss in a Parent or Older Relative: Quick Tips
- Age-related hearing loss is far from rare, and many older people find their hearing quality and range worsens over time – with an inclination to disregard the problem or perceive it as an inevitable part of ageing.
- Broaching any concern about a loved one’s health or well-being can be tricky, but a direct and honest approach, delivered with compassion, is often best, combined with a proposed plan to help your Dad address the issue.
- Scheduling either an in-practice full hearing assessment or having an audiologists come to you or your father’s home is a great option. You will be encouraged to attend the appointment to listen to the recommendations and support your Dad in making decisions, such as whether to go ahead and fit a hearing aid.
Why Prompt Action Is Essential if You Notice a Decline in Your Dad’s Hearing
We’d always reiterate that if there appears to be something wrong with a person’s hearing, even if the issue is relatively minor, it’s essential that you make decisions about how to tackle it. Delaying treatment or leaving hearing loss to deteriorate could cause the situation to become significantly worse.
Particularly in older adults, hearing isn’t just about interaction, socialisation and communication. It’s vital to how our brains process and respond to information using the auditory cortex.
If hearing loss is left to progress, there is a very real and unfortunate potential for the brain to gradually lose the ability to interpret sounds altogether, which has a close correlation with cognitive decline.
Of course, discussions about hearing loss with a parent can be harder if they have an existing cognitive condition such as dementia or Alzheimer’s. However, hearing loss can accelerate the speed at which cognition decreases, and a person with advanced hearing loss is at greater risk of developing dementia if this isn’t currently a concern.
Approaching the discussion sensitively, respectfully and gently is the best option, often phrased as a question about whether your Dad has any awareness of how far his hearing has deteriorated.
A proactive plan, such as a private, comfortable hearing test at one of our practices or organising a Hear at Home visit, may be ideal, rather than presenting a problem without considering the right solutions.
What do our audiologists say?
How to Manage a Scenario Where a Parent Claims Their Hearing Is Fine When it Isn’t
Denying that a problem exists is a human response. Many parents don’t want to impose or be a burden on their children or will insist they are fine even if they aren’t because they don’t want to make a fuss or don’t think there are any real solutions available.
If your father claims his hearing is perfectly fine, that could also mean that his age-related hearing loss only impacts particular sounds or frequencies, with higher-frequency sounds often the first to be affected.
Therefore, your Dad could legitimately perceive his hearing as being as good as ever. For example, if a parent loses the ability to hear higher-pitched sounds, they might listen to a male friend or son speaking with absolute clarity – but cannot make out a higher-frequency female voice.
Explaining your concerns may help, as could asking whether your Dad has felt that some noises seem distorted. Importantly, this differs from muffled sounds and means that no matter how high the volume on the TV is turned up, noises still seem hard to define.
Organising a Private Hearing Test for Your Dad
As we’ve indicated, there are two main options if you know that your father has a problem with his hearing – and either accepts that he is struggling or agrees to have a hearing assessment to put everyone’s mind at rest:
- A comprehensive hearing assessment in one of Regain Hearing’s comfortable, convenient and fully equipped private hearing clinics.
- An at-home hearing check with our Hear at Home service.
Both are conducted by qualified, experienced audiologists who can perform a range of advanced, personalised and gentle assessments that get to the root cause of hearing loss or help to identify the right interventions to prevent further hearing deterioration.
Explaining what a hearing test involves could be really helpful. We often speak with clients who are nervous about a hearing check, worried about painful tests, or have never had their hearing evaluated before and don’t know what to expect.
You’ll find full details of several testing techniques within our pages, but rest assured every approach is gentle, pain-free and specific to your Dad, giving us all the information we need to determine if there are issues such as ear infections or ear wax blockages that need to be addressed, or whether we find confirmation of age-related hearing loss.
Working Through the Right Solutions to Manage Age-Related Hearing Loss in an Older Parent
If there are no clear contributing factors causing hearing issues, it may be that we determine your father has age-related hearing loss, but that by no means indicates there aren’t options available to lessen the impact and prevent further deterioration.
Hearing aids are the most commonly recommended option, but it’s important to clarify that this doesn’t mean a clunky, hard-to-program, heavy device that some people simply don’t want to wear.
Cutting-edge and bespoke hearing aids are whisper-light, designed to be user-friendly, and fully adaptable. During your hearing and ear health consultation, we can run through all of the options in detail, suggesting models and programming suited to your Dad’s needs and budget.
If you’d like more advice about dealing with suspected hearing loss in a parent, we are always here to help.
As an audiology team dedicated to outstanding client care, we’ll be happy to suggest the best approach to put you and your Dad at complete ease.
