Volume 8 Issue 3 (pdf) - Andrew John Publishing Inc
Volume 8 Issue 3 (pdf) - Andrew John Publishing Inc
Volume 8 Issue 3 (pdf) - Andrew John Publishing Inc
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the happY hoh |<br />
Yo – hearing care<br />
professionals! Can<br />
anybody tell us where a<br />
family can sign up for a<br />
communication course<br />
(And I’m not talking<br />
about a mandatory<br />
program involving a<br />
psychologist or the<br />
police.) It’s tough enough for a hard of<br />
hearing person to find access to effective<br />
aural rehabilitation, let alone a program<br />
that includes communication partners<br />
like spouses and children past the spitup<br />
stage.<br />
The need is great. In many families,<br />
hearing loss is the elephant in the room,<br />
the monkey wrench thrown into family<br />
communication. Attending even a single<br />
facilitated session on communication<br />
strategies can make a big difference in the<br />
quality of family life. I know what you<br />
might be thinking – and to keep this<br />
animal analogy going – you can lead a<br />
horse to water but you can’t make it<br />
drink. People may not break down your<br />
door to sign up for the session or course,<br />
but the ones that do will benefit greatly.<br />
It can be a bit lonely as the only HoH in<br />
the house. Just because a family is wellversed<br />
in effective communication<br />
strategies, doesn’t mean it actually<br />
practices them. This is not because of<br />
pettiness, negligence or a lack of caring,<br />
but simply because family members, in<br />
the moment, can forget the basics of good<br />
communication. A turned-away face or a<br />
question bellowed from upstairs can suck<br />
the pleasant air out of a room in two<br />
seconds flat, kick-starting a familiar<br />
Hearing loss – A Family Affair<br />
scenario of rising irritation and heated<br />
words.<br />
Me: Why did you do that<br />
Him: (sigh) Do what<br />
Me: You started talking to me as you<br />
walked away. You KNOW I can’t<br />
understand when you do that.<br />
Him: Sorry, hon, I forgot.<br />
Me: You forgot, you forgot! How many<br />
times will it take before you<br />
remember<br />
Him: Until death do us part, OK I will<br />
always forget sometimes, I can’t help<br />
it. Now, do you wanna know what I<br />
said, or not<br />
Hearing loss is a family affair. Its impact<br />
reaches beyond the personal to anyone<br />
within communicating distance. In my<br />
house, even after living together for years,<br />
simply mis-communications can still<br />
spark reactions that range from a laugh to<br />
mild irritation to full-on frustration. This<br />
is part of our more-or-less accepted family<br />
dynamic and, when the bad moment<br />
passes, we move on – time after time.<br />
But the family affair has recently become<br />
more complicated. One change involves<br />
the 17 year-old son who has already<br />
moved beyond our sphere of influence.<br />
The little boy who was raised to respect<br />
the gift of hearing and understand the<br />
consequences of hearing damage, now<br />
enjoys his music at dangerous levels.<br />
There’s not much I can do beyond<br />
offering a good supply of earplugs (which<br />
I can no longer stuff in his ears for him)<br />
and reminding (nagging) him that if he<br />
continues to abuse his hearing, we’ll be<br />
comparing hearing aids at some point in<br />
the future.<br />
By Gael Hannan<br />
gdhannan@rogers.com<br />
The other change involves his parents.<br />
Up until now, Mommy has been the only<br />
one playing in the hearing loss sandbox.<br />
But now Daddy, who has been sitting on<br />
the fence between the two worlds of<br />
hearing (his) and hearing loss (mine),<br />
may have stuck a toe in the sandbox, too.<br />
When it’s noisy, he doesn’t hear me as<br />
well as he used to. Recently, at a hearing<br />
health fair I was involved with, my<br />
husband signed up for free hearing test.<br />
Although the testing environment was<br />
less than ideal, his hearing was “normal”<br />
until 4000 Hz – and then kaboom, the<br />
famous NIHL notch!<br />
The day may have arrived that the former<br />
Hearing Husband and I must practice<br />
two-way communication strategies. I now<br />
need to practice what I preach, making<br />
sure, for example, that he can see my face<br />
in order to understand what I’m saying.<br />
But my husband and I have grown into<br />
this situation – I was already hard of<br />
hearing when we got married. What<br />
about the couples or families who<br />
experience hearing loss after years of<br />
being together The emotional impact is<br />
often immeasurable. Internet resources<br />
such as personal blogs and consumer/<br />
professional hearing loss sites offer a great<br />
deal of helpful information, but don’t<br />
match the effectiveness of learning<br />
and practicing good communication<br />
strategies with real people.<br />
As hearing care professionals, you can<br />
help ensure your clients’ success by<br />
helping their families deal with the<br />
REVUE CANADIENNE D’AUDITION | CANADIAN HEARING REPORT 13