Many aspects of your daily life can be impacted by Hearing Loss. Your pastimes, your professional life, and even your love life can be impacted by hearing loss, for example. Communication can become tense for couples who are dealing with hearing loss. Animosity can develop from the increased tension and more frequent quarrels. In other words, left unchecked, hearing loss can negatively affect your relationship in significant ways.
So how are relationships impacted by hearing loss? In part, these hardships happen because the individuals are not aware of the hearing loss. After all, hearing loss is typically a slow-moving and difficult to detect condition. As a result, you (and your partner) may not recognize that hearing loss is the root cause of your communication issues. This can result in both partners feeling alienated and can make it hard to find workable solutions.
Often, a diagnosis of hearing loss along with helpful strategies from a hearing specialist can help couples begin communicating again, and better their relationships.
Can relationships be impacted by hearing loss?
It’s very easy to disregard hearing loss when it initially begins to develop. This can result in substantial misunderstandings between couples. The following common issues can develop as a result:
- Feeling ignored: You would probably feel like you’re being dismissed if you addressed someone and they didn’t respond. This can often occur when one partner is suffering from hearing loss and doesn’t know it. The long-term health of your relationship can be severely put in jeopardy if you feel like you’re being ignored.
- Arguments: It’s not unusual for arguments to take place in a relationship, at least, sometimes. But when hearing loss is present, those arguments can be even more frustrating. Arguments can become more frequent too. Hearing loss associated behavioral changes, such as needing things to be painfully loud, can also become a source of tension
- Couples often confuse hearing loss for “selective hearing”: Selective hearing is what happens when somebody hears “we’re having brownies for dessert” very clearly, but somehow does not hear “we need to take out the trash before we eat”. Sometimes, selective hearing is totally unintentional, and in others, it can be a conscious choice. One of the most frequent effects of hearing loss on a partner is that they may begin to miss words or certain phrases will seem garbled. This can frequently be mistaken for “selective hearing,” causing resentment and tension in the relationship.
- Intimacy may suffer: Communication in a relationship is often the basis of intimacy. And when that communication breaks down, all parties may feel more distant from one another. Increased tension and frustration are frequently the result.
These problems will often start before anyone is diagnosed with hearing loss. If someone doesn’t know that hearing loss is at the root of the problem, or if they are disregarding their symptoms, feelings of resentment could get worse.
Tips for living with someone who has hearing loss
If hearing loss can lead to so much conflict in a relationship, how can you live with someone who is dealing with hearing loss? This will only be a problem for couples who aren’t willing to formulate new communication strategies. Here are a few of those strategies:
- Patience: When you recognize that your partner is dealing with hearing loss, patience is especially important. You might have to repeat yourself more often or raise the volume of your voice. It might also be necessary to talk in a slower cadence. This type of patience can be challenging, but it can also drastically improve the effectiveness of your communication.
- Encourage your partner to come in for a hearing exam: Your partner’s hearing loss can be managed with our help. Many areas of tension will fade away and communication will be more successful when hearing loss is well managed. Additionally, managing hearing loss is a safety issue: hearing loss can impact your ability to hear the telephone, smoke detectors and fire alarms, and the doorbell. It may also be hard to hear oncoming traffic. We can help your partner better regulate any of these potential issues.
- Try to talk face-to-face as often as possible: For somebody who has hearing loss, face-to-face communication can give an abundance of visual cues. You will be providing your partner with body language and facial cues. It’s also easier to maintain concentration and eye contact. This supplies your partner with more information to process, and that typically makes it easier to understand your intent.
- When you repeat what you said, try making use of different words: When your partner doesn’t understand what you said, you will typically try repeating yourself. But try switching the words you use instead of using the same words. Hearing loss can impact some frequencies of speech more than others, which means certain words may be harder to understand (while others are easier). Your message can be reinforced by changing the words you use.
- Help your partner get used to their hearing aids: Perhaps you could do things like taking over trips to the grocery store or other chores that cause your partner anxiety. There also might be ways you can help your partner get accustomed to their hearing aids and we can assist you with that.
After you get diagnosed, what happens next?
A hearing examination is a fairly simple, non-invasive experience. Usually, you will simply put on a pair of headphones and listen for specific tones. But a hearing loss diagnosis can be an important step to more effectively managing symptoms and relationships.
Encouraging your partner to touch base with us can help ensure that hearing loss doesn’t sabotage your happiness or your partnership.