Terry Stokka has lived in Black Forest for 29 years. He is president of the Friends of Black Forest, chairman of the Black Forest Land Use Committee and chairman of the Black Forest Water & Wells Committee.
Talking to hearing-impaired people
By Terry Stokka
I am going to deviate from my usual subjects of Land and Water this month to match the newspaper focus on health issues. As a hearing-impaired person, I have a deep interest in hearing issues and want to give you a lesson on how to talk to hearing-impaired people. Next time you are in a crowd, notice how many people have a little plastic thing behind their ears. The plastic piece has a little tube over the top of the ear and into the ear that is so small as to be almost unnoticeable. Hearing aid technology has come a long way, and my current aids have a tiny speaker in each ear with the amplifier and microphone in the plastic piece behind my ear. I have a separate small microphone that I use in the car so my wife can talk into that and it goes directly to my hearing aids. Other enhancements are provided that connect to the television and transmit the sounds directly to the hearer’s ears.
My hearing is about 40% in my left ear and 12% in my right ear. With my hearing aids, it boosts my hearing to about 60% of normal. Even that level is limiting because hearing aids tend to amplify every sound so background noises like a restaurant or driving in a car get amplified too much and drown out the voices I want to hear. Very expensive hearing aids can filter out more of the background noise if you pay the price. In the miracle of the human ear, God made it so the ear and brain can filter out the background clutter, but the hearing aids are not that sophisticated.
My audiologist tells me that people with normal hearing can interpret words as another person speaks them; but, for me, I need to hear a whole sentence and then work to interpret that. Needless to say, I miss some of the next words that are spoken. Because my brain is working so hard to interpret the words being spoken, my brain gets very tired, and it seems like it is my ears that are tired but that is not the case. If my wife is facing away from me or my back is turned away from her, I miss her words because lip reading is a big part of “hearing” for me as it is paired with hearing words.
Try talking to someone with your hand over your mouth and you will get a picture of what I live with every day. I hear the words but they are muffled and not crisp and clear. The best way to talk to me is to talk slower, enunciate clearly and look me in the eye. It doesn’t help to talk louder, yet that is the normal reaction for people when they talk to me. Louder only means louder muffled words.
If you want to learn more, I recommend a book titled, “Shouting Won’t Help,” by Katherine Bouton. She lost her hearing suddenly in her 30s and the first chapter jumped out at me like a beacon. I made my wife read the chapter because the author clearly explained what hearing-impaired people are experiencing and how the rest of the world can make their handicap more bearable.
For now, my hearing aids are giving me a reasonable hearing level, and I constantly remind myself that we all have limitations; this is mild compared to what other people are going through. God has given me so many blessing in my life. I marvel at His goodness so what is hearing loss in light of all of those good things?
I am now into my fourth set of hearing aids, with each one having a stronger amplification. This last set is the most powerful they make. More powerful hearing aids also mean more distortion of the sounds and more difficulty in a normal conversation. Sometime in the future, I will be facing the prospect of cochlear implants. With these, a minor surgery places a receiver under the skin behind the ear with a wire into the inner ear. The receiver has a magnet so another piece of equipment can be connected outside the skin that has a microphone to collect sounds and send it to the inner ear in the form of electrical signals. Once the cochlear implant is placed under the skin, the normal ear functions are cut off so it is a one-way street with no return. The implant duplicates the little hairs in the inner ear that wave back and forth as sound waves hit them. The implant has about 200 “hairs,” whereas the human ear has something like 20,000, so the sound is distorted. The audiologist told me it takes about one year to get accustomed to the artificial sound from the implant.
All of this technology is not cheap; hearing aids are quite expensive. One pair of hearing aids costs $2,000 to $6,000. Medicare does not cover hearing aids or cochlear implants. The Veteran’s Administration covers the cost for military veterans and other private insurance may cover it. Cheaper aids costing $300 to $500 are available online and in major department stores but they don’t have the technology that allows the audiologist to adjust sound levels and balance for your individual ears.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of what we hearing-impaired people deal with and you can better communicate with us. Just remember, shouting doesn’t help, just speak slower and clearer, and we will be so thankful for your consideration.
