Better Hearing can be your New “Fountain of Youth”
The qualities of youth - strength, independence and health - have long been prized throughout the history of western civilization. It’s no wonder that the New World explorers were on a quest to find the mythical “Fountain of Youth”. Since these times, we’ve learned that there is no actual fountain of youth to reverse the effects of aging, but modern technology has provided many tools to counteract the negative effects age has on quality of life.
Modern audiology and hearing health are great examples of technology-in-action; technology that helps stave off the negative effects of aging. It is widely known that one’s sense of hearing deteriorates over time. For many reasons—age, genetics, exposure to loud sounds, and others—hearing loss is very common as we age, and occurs in varying degrees. Although modern medicine can’t magically restore one’s sense of hearing to its condition during youth (like the fabled “fountain of youth”), it has provided solutions that allow people to hear as well as they did in younger days. Innovations in hearing devices can help a person attain some or all of what is lost.
In the case of hearing health, which usually deteriorates very gradually, older people are often reluctant to even admit to themselves that their hearing is not as effective as it used to be. “I’m too young to wear a hearing aid!” or “Hearing devices are for people older than me!” are common responses from patients diagnosed with hearing loss. Ironically enough, resistance to using hearing devices keeps older people from the desired quality they seek so stubbornly—youthful hearing! They scoff at the need for hearing devices because they perceive them as an outward sign of age. In reality, the hearing devices make their ears function effectively—as they did during their youth! This dilemma is a matter of perception in the eyes of older people. While they’re caught avoiding the appearance of using hearing aids, they live a lifestyle that cries out, “I’m too old to hear!”
This lifestyle is not as well masked as people with hearing loss may think it is…
Each time an older person asks someone to repeat a statement just spoken clearly, the older person is advertising his or her hearing loss and age. Smiling and pretending to hear what is said along with having the TV volume up loud are not behaviors of someone with keen, youthful ears. On the other hand, the use of hearing devices helps to outwardly portray the desired younger appearance many older people seek. Aside from the presence of the device—most of which are very small and difficult to notice without looking—using these gifts of technology is a great step toward making the user appear younger, more independent and healthy!
Consider it this way—would you be more likely to notice a tiny device in or behind someone’s ear, or the questions “Could you repeat that?” and “What was that?” asked again and again during a conversation?
In closing, there’s no way to change our society’s value of youth and independence—these ideals are part of the fabric of western culture. In addition, there is no magical spring to return an older person to the state of their youth. There are, however, solutions to getting the most possible out of your body today and for years to come, as shown through true hearing health. You just have to look at these solutions, and the results they provide, from the proper perspective!
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