The Festive Season and Hearing Loss: How to enjoy the sounds of the season

For many people with hearing loss, the holidays can be especially challenging. While large family gatherings offer a great chance to catch up with friends and family, Christmas parties can lead to challenging listening situations for people with hearing loss.

Here are some tips for people with hearing loss to better enjoy holiday gatherings.

1. Find a quiet corner – Stand away from loudspeakers and noisy kitchens and position yourself in the quietest area of the room. This way you can hear conversation rather than noise.
2. Pick your seat – If you’re having a sit-down dinner, pick a seat at the center of the table nearest to a close friend or relative. This way you have a better chance of hearing conversation and enjoying your meal.
3. Pick your drink – A glass of wine can make you more relaxed – or it can confuse you and make your level of understanding worse. Be aware of what you are drinking and your own level of tolerance.
4. Buddy up – Find a friend or relative with whom you can hang out at the party. This person can help you to feel more included in conversation and can repeat things you may not understand.

Wearing hearing aids
If you have hearing aids, it’s important that you wear them to festive events. You may think that with so much noise at a party or family dinner, hearing aids would just make things louder, but modern digital hearing aids aren’t simple sound amplifiers. They are designed to filter out all the unwanted noise - like the clanging of dishes in the kitchen or the background music - and help you focus on speech.

Two hearing aid features in particular are put to work in crowds:

• The Speech Enhancer - Many hearing aids reduce noise by using a speech enhancer. This technology works to reduce background noise and helps you focus on what you need to hear.
• Directional Microphones - Directional microphones work to reduce the amount of noise allowed to enter your hearing aids. In noisy environments, like at a Christmas party, the system will work to pick up the least amount of noise.If the noise is located behind you, your directional microphones will adapt to pick up sound from in front of you and dampen noise from behind you. According to a 2004 study, directional microphones are proven to improve speech understanding in noise.

Have the “hearing loss” conversation
Christmas gatherings are a good time to have “the conversation” with friends and loved ones. We’re talking about the conversation about hearing loss and getting hearing aids. If you think your loved one is unable to hear correctly, take out your phone or tablet and encourage them to book a hearing test. This is a great first step to help someone realise they have a hearing loss.

Help guests with hearing loss
You might not have hearing loss - but one of your guests might. Here are some tips on helping your guests with hearing loss enjoy your party"

• Background music - Everyone loves a good Christmas carol, but when those carols are in the background of the conversations of 20+ people, no one can hear them anyways. Consider turning down the background music - or turning it off completely when several guests are socialising at once. People tend to speak louder to be heard over the music, so your music may in fact make the party louder.
• Dish Duty - Hold off on cleaning the dishes until after your guests have left. For people with hearing loss, the clatter of kitchen dishes can distract from dinnertime conversation. Take time to enjoy your guests rather than worrying about the clean-up!
• Seating - If you know that one of your guests has a hearing loss, seat that person at the center of the table closest to those with the quietest voices. It may also help if you sit next to that person, so you can help him or her to better understand the conversation.

Christmas Appeal: Supporting Deaf Children in Rwanda

As part of my company's community and charity work, we are involved with a project in Rwanda, supporting very under priveledged deaf children.

As you prepare for the celebration of Christmas, buying presents and baking the cakes and mince pies, please spare a thought for those less fortunate than we are. 

This is Israel. He is 11 yrs old, and until May this year, he had never been to school.  He was born profoundly deaf, into a very poor rural family in Rwanda.  His mother has since died, and he was discovered by ‘Chance for Childhood’ workers in Rwanda when they were visiting remote villages in the Nyabihu District. His father is very poor. Israel had no decent clothes, the ones he is wearing are made at the School for him.  His shoes are far too big, but he has shoes!

When he arrived at the school, he knew no sign language, could not read or write, and communicated by gesture.  There are no hearing aids available to him either.  But he has proved to be a quick learner!  He has learnt the alphabet, signs for many practical things and basic numbers and arithmetic.  He enjoys school and has made friends with whom he can communicate.

Israel will get no presents this Christmas.  However, Chance for Childhood and Nyabihu Demonstration Centre for the Deaf, are giving him the best present they can – a language, the chance of an education,  vocational training when he is older, friends just like him, three meals a day, access to health care and much more. They are giving him a chance to move out of abject poverty, - a future where he could earn a living and provide for his family.

There are 109 children just like him at the Centre.  However, the Centre is in a rented building, which is in very poor condition, and part of it is due for demolition next year to make room for a new road.  But they have acquired land to build a new purpose built Centre. The plans for the building are now being drawn up and the next stage will be to start building.  Just £5 will buy 100 bricks, and we need a lot of bricks!

Please donate what you can so that children like Israel can have a more secure future.  

Thank you. 

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/NNS

Experts warn that one in five Brits will suffer from hearing loss by 2035

Despite a growing problem, medical research spending on hearing loss has dropped in last decade, according to Action on Hearing Loss.

The number of people in the UK suffering from hearing loss will top 15 million by 2035, experts warn.

One in five of us will face deafness, tinnitus or hearing loss due to our rapidly ageing population, according to Action on Hearing Loss.

But despite the growing problem, medical research spending on hearing loss is the only area which has seen a drop in the last decade, a report by the charity found.

There are now 11 million people - one in six adults - in the UK living with hearing loss.

This figure is set to rise to 15.6 million by 2035, and will affect one in five adults.

There is plenty of research which shows that early intervention prevents hearing loss becoming worse over time, and this the decision hits the people who are least able to afford to pay for privately prescribed hearing aids.

I've campaigned for some years though my company's “Love your Hearing” campaign, to raise awareness about hearing loss, and I urge everyone to have regular hearing tests.  Ultimately untreated hearing loss can lead to social isolation and has been linked to ill health and depression. 

What is even more worrying is that clinical commissioning groups across the UK are withdrawing free NHS hearing aids to new patients with mild hearing loss it will save £150,000 a year. This will only exacerbate the problem.

Let's hope the something changes and fast!