As we near the holidays, you’re probably considering what gifts you want to give to loved ones. It’s likely a hearing aid has maybe never crossed your mind, but there are several reasons to reconsider.
Nearly 28.8 million adults in the U.S. could benefit from using hearing aids. A hearing aid as a gift shows your commitment to supporting their overall well-being. That type of support from you could even be the vote of confidence they need to make the decision.
Benefits of Hearing Aids
If you’re considering gifting a loved one with hearing aids this holiday season, you’ve likely been noticing their hearing decline for some time, whether it be needing to repeat conversations at Palmer’s Fresh Grill or the volume being up too loud on the television. Often, when someone has hearing loss, they struggle to maintain social connections due to listening fatigue or even resentment from the other person at having to repeat themselves. The decision to gift a loved one hearing aids is a commitment to helping them maintain their relationships.
Hearing aids provide several other health benefits to wearers:
- Hearing loss can sometimes contribute to balance issues and difficulty communicating. Hearing aids can help with those challenges.
- The wearer is likely to have more social interactions.
- Hearing aids decrease the strain of hearing, or listening fatigue, by amplifying sounds.
- They filter out background noise to better hear conversation or the television.
- Combined, all the benefits of hearing aids can increase independence.
It’s important to understand that hearing aids won’t restore hearing loss and can’t slow the progression of nerve-related hearing loss. It may also take the wearer several months to adjust to wearing hearing aids, so they are not an immediate fix for most issues.
As you consider gifting hearing aids, it may be tempting to gift just one if the person who would wear them only has hearing loss in one ear. However, if the wearer has hearing loss in both ears, wearing two hearing aids allows for greater sound processing.
A gift of hearing aids also shouldn’t be used as a substitute for proper hearing care. It’s important to encourage the person with hearing loss to protect their remaining hearing by avoiding loud noises, taking breaks from loud noises and wearing hearing protection when appropriate.
You should continue to encourage your loved one to see a hearing specialist to get their hearing checked. We also encourage loved ones to attend hearing appointments as well. There, you can learn about all the potential benefits of hearing aids. That way, you can select an appropriate pair using the guidance of a professional.
To learn more about hearing aids or to schedule a hearing test for you or a loved one, contact The Hearing & Speech Center.
