Many facets of your day-to-day life can be affected by Hearing Loss. Untreated hearing loss, for instance, can impact your professional life, your favorite hobbies, and even your relationships. For couples who are coping with hearing loss, communication can become strained. Animosity can develop from the increased stress and more frequent quarrels. If untreated, in other words, hearing loss can have a substantially negative impact on your relationship.
So, how does hearing loss impact relationships? In part, these hardships arise because the parties aren’t aware of the hearing loss. Hearing loss usually is, after all, a slowly advancing condition. Consequently, you (and your partner) might not detect that hearing loss is the base cause of your communication problems. Workable solutions might be difficult to find as both partners feel more and more alienated.
Relationships can be helped and communication can begin to be repaired when hearing loss is diagnosed and couples get practical solutions from us.
Can relationships be affected by hearing loss?
When hearing loss is in the early stages, it can be hard to identify. Couples can have substantial misunderstandings because of this. The following common issues can develop because of this:
- Arguments: Arguments are pretty common in pretty much all relationships. But arguments will be even more frustrating when one or both partners are dealing with hearing loss. Arguments can become more frequent too. For others, an increase in arguments could be a consequence of changes in behavior (for example, increasing the volume on the television to painful volumes).
- Intimacy may suffer: Communication in a relationship is usually the foundation of intimacy. This can cause a rift to build up between the partners. As a result, hearing loss might introduce friction throughout the relationship, ultimately causing more frustration and tension.
- It’s not uncommon for one of the partners to blame hearing loss on “selective hearing”: Selective hearing is what happens when somebody hears “we’re having cake for dessert” very distinctly, but somehow does not hear “we need to take out the garbage before we eat”. In some cases, selective hearing is absolutely unintended, 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 start to miss words or certain phrases will seem garbled. This can frequently be mistaken for “selective hearing,” resulting in resentment and tension in the relationship.
- Feeling ignored: You would likely feel like you’re being ignored if you addressed someone and they didn’t respond. When one of the partners has hearing loss but is oblivious of it, this can often occur. Feeling as if your partner isn’t paying attention to you is not good for long-term relationship health.
In many cases, this friction starts to happen before any formal diagnosis of hearing loss. If someone doesn’t know that hearing loss is at the root of the problem, or if they are dismissing their symptoms, feelings of resentment could get worse.
Living with a person who is dealing with loss of hearing
How do you live with a person who has hearing loss when hearing loss can result in so much conflict? For couples who are willing to develop new communication techniques, this usually isn’t a problem. Here are some of those strategies:
- Make use of different words when you repeat yourself: Usually, you will try to repeat what you said when your partner doesn’t hear you. But instead of using the same words again and again, try changing things up. Some words may be more difficult to hear than others depending on what frequencies your hearing loss effects most. Your message can be strengthened by changing the words you use.
- Help your partner get used to their hearing aids: This can include things like taking over chores that cause substantial anxiety (like going shopping or making phone calls). You can also ask your partner’s hearing specialist if there are ways you can help them get used to their hearing aids.
- Try to communicate face-to-face as often as possible: Communicating face-to-face can furnish a wealth of visual cues for somebody with hearing loss. You will be supplying your partner with body language and facial cues. It’s also easier to preserve concentration and eye contact. By giving your partner more visual information to process they will have a simpler time understanding what you mean.
- Patience: This is especially true when you know that your partner is struggling with hearing loss. You may need to change the way you speak, like raising your volume for instance. It may also be necessary to talk in a slower cadence. This kind of patience can be a challenge, 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 controlled with our help. Many areas of stress will fade away and communication will be more successful when hearing loss is well controlled. In addition, treating hearing loss is a safety concern: hearing loss can effect your ability to hear the telephone, smoke detectors and fire alarms, and the doorbell. It may also be hard to hear oncoming traffic. Your partner can get assistance controlling any of these potential problems by scheduling an appointment with us.
What happens after you get diagnosed?
A hearing test is a relatively simple, non-invasive experience. Usually, you will simply put on a set of headphones and listen for particular tones. You will be better able to manage your symptoms and your relationships after you get a diagnosis.
Encouraging your partner to get in touch with us can help ensure that hearing loss doesn’t sabotage your happiness or your partnership.