Is hearing loss affecting your relationship?

One in six people in the UK experience some form of hearing loss. Your wife, husband or partner may be one of them.

Untreated hearing loss does not only affect an individual's quality of life - it also has an impact on his or her relationships, especially the most important ones. This is because hearing loss affects one's ability to communicate, and by definition, communication involves a least one other person.

Let’s talk about what this means in practical terms. Some or all of the below scenarios might sound familiar to you if you are living with somebody with hearing loss...

• Telephone conversations between you turn into arguments and shouting because they cannot hear you properly. You: “Please pick up some milk tonight” Partner: “What about tonight?” You: MILK, I said can you get some milk”. You may revert to texting one another rather than talking.
  
• You may have to watch TV in separate rooms because your loved one has to have the volume up too loud.
  
• Parties and social gatherings may be avoided because they think they not be able to hear what people are saying to don’t want to look silly when they respond to a question with the wrong response. It’s becomes easier just to stay at home and your social life suffers.
  
• You may now have to pick restaurants based on their noise level over where you actually might like to go. If the ceilings are too high or the music is too loud it will make it impossible for your loved one to hear.
  
• You are always being accused of mumbling and the frustration of them not being able to hear can lead to arguments.

My advice to you would be to start having the conversation about what could be done to resolve the problem, and the first step would be to book a hearing assessment.

Assessments begin with a discussion on loved one’s hearing and any impact it may have on their daily life and then a variety of tests are carried out in a sound proof environment. Having you along as well for support really helps. It can also help the audiologist gain a different person’s perspective on how the hearing loss affects you both.