Connecting People | May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!
After more than two years of lockdowns, quarantines, social distancing, and other measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we are finally seeing some of these practices relaxed or eliminated altogether. Prior to 2020, some of us took for granted the simple ability to spend time with our loved ones in the same physical location, but the last two years have shown us just how precious those times together really are. Whether we are celebrating a holiday or a birthday, meeting new family members, or just spending time living life together, our relationships are more cherished now than ever. With these relationships in mind, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has chosen a special theme for this year’s Better Hearing and Speech Month: “Connecting People.” Our connections are vital to our happiness and social wellbeing, whether in the community, among friends, or within our families. After being separated from these connections, we can take the month of May to enjoy restored connections once again! Although the ability to connect is a powerful aspect of our wellbeing, one factor can get in the way of those connections. Hearing loss makes it more difficult to communicate, and communication difficulties in turn can impose a barrier in our connections with others. Let’s explore how getting treatment for hearing loss is an effective way to restore connections with others. Now more than ever, we know just how valuable these connections really are!
Communication and Connection
Although we experience connections with others through physical presence, acts of generosity, and nonverbal communication, our ability to have a conversation is a crucial aspect of relationships. In the community, we use conversations to establish trust and reciprocity with others. Even the simplest tasks like going to the grocery store or post office are opportunities to enjoy connections with strangers through simple conversations. Hearing loss can impose disconnection where these relationships once were, and some people even avoid going to these public places when they know that conversations will be awkward or embarrassing due to hearing loss. Our deeper relationships also rely on the ability to disclose our thoughts and feelings and to hear others’ perspectives. When our friends and family members tell us their feelings, opinions, and experiences, we need to be able to understand what they have to say to be able to assure them of our care and concern. Hearing loss can be an obstacle to these deeper connections, as well. Some people even find that untreated hearing loss can do damage to otherwise close relationships, adding an element of frustration, anger, or disappointment to any conversation.
Hearing Aids and Reconnection
If hearing loss has become a barrier between you and your community, friends, and family, then hearing aids can do the crucial work of facilitating reconnection. Where once you might have felt strain, difficulty, and negative emotions, hearing aids can make conversations easy once again. In the broader community, you can feel better able to engage in simple errands, to volunteer with an organization, or to attend public meetings. In your closer relationships, you can hear what others have to say and respond with care and concern. This ability to empathize and take action to support your loved ones is a great way to reconnect after hearing loss has imposed a barrier between you.
Our relationships thrive on deep disclosures of emotion and thought through conversations, but those intimate encounters are not the only basis of closeness. The simple ability to blurt out a perspective, opinion, joke, or concern at home is a way that we establish trust, as well. Hearing aids assist with both types of close relationships, restoring connections that may have become fragmented.
If you have untreated hearing loss, why not take the opportunity of Better Hearing and Speech Month to do something about it? Getting a hearing test is the first step toward building better connections with others in your community and family. After a hearing test, our hearing health professionals can provide you with a list of recommendations for hearing aids suited to your needs. Let’s celebrate our connections this May with better communication, easier conversations, and stronger relationships!