While we all know that hearing loss has a significant impact on your quality of life, not many people are aware of how much it affects your mental health. Various side effects and afflictions can develop from hearing loss, and anger is certainly one of them.
Around 50 million Americans suffer some degree of hearing loss. Hearing loss is also the third most common chronic medical condition among older adults. If you suffer from hearing loss, you already know that hearing loss makes it challenging to engage in conversations, talk on the telephone, and hear dialogue on television or at the movies.
But hearing loss can affect more than just your ability to hear sounds. Hearing loss’s mental and emotional effects include anger, denial, depression, anxiety, isolation, social withdrawal, and fatigue. This also includes changes to your self-esteem and the way that you interact with others.
Anger and Denial
Anger and denial are one of the first stages of a patient dealing with hearing loss. Losing your hearing can be a radical change to your daily life that can be difficult to get used to, causing feelings of rage.
It is also common for people with hearing loss to be in denial about the harshness of their hearing loss because it is hard to accept the transformation.
Older adults who struggle with hearing loss often say that being “hard of hearing” causes communication problems and frequently interferes with thinking and concentration. This leads to distraction, inattentiveness, and boredom, which can cause further anger. At its worst, a hearing problem can cause a person to withdraw or stop participating in the things they love.
Feeling Shame and Humiliation
The inability to hear and communicate can result in negative feelings of shame, inadequacy, and humiliation. It can be embarrassing and frustrating to feel left out or worry about responding inappropriately in social situations. While this shame prompts some people to seek out treatment for their hearing loss, others fear that the embarrassment of wearing a hearing aid will cause further social isolation.
This embarrassment and shame can rapidly manifest in anger. This anger can result from the helplessness of the seeming “bad luck” with how you were afflicted with the condition.
Losing your hearing can also make you feel like you lost part of your identity. Some things to look out for in those affected include crying, slowed responses, weight changes, and disrupted sleeping patterns.
Anxiety
Hearing loss can also be anxiety-provoking. “When someone with hearing loss is faced with having a conversation with someone else…it can create a lot of stress and worry that they are going to miss parts of the conversation and let on that they are struggling to hear,” says Rhee Rosenman-Nesson, AuD.
Some common hearing impairment behavioral characteristics include avoiding situations where it is difficult to hear to prevent feelings of stress, anxiety, and anger about their hearing loss. Isolation and social withdrawal can also lead to feelings of depression or make them worse.
“The frustration of not being able to hear in these situations may lead people to avoid going out in public or meeting up with family and friends, which can sadly cause them to become socially isolated,” said Paul K Farrell, AuD.
Luckily, treatment options are available. The treatment for hearing loss depends on the type of hearing loss.
Treatment Options
One of the most common treatment methods is hearing aids. Now, various technological advances such as pairing your hearing aids to your smartphone make it easier to live your daily life.
And along with making it easier to hear, hearing aids can improve people’s social, emotional, and psychological quality of life, per research. Besides hearing better, there are many health benefits to hearing aids.
Auditory training can also be helpful.
“Aural rehabilitation refers to basically anything from a treatment standpoint that helps someone with hearing loss to communicate more effectively and minimize the impacts of the hearing loss,” says Jason Meyer, AuD.
Audiologists and other hearing instrument specialists can help people set reasonable expectations for how their hearing might improve, lessening some of that anger felt in the hearing renewal process.
Another course of action is assisted listening devices. These devices—abbreviated as ALDs—can help watch TV or go to the theater.
“These devices are typically a headset style device that receive a desired signal wirelessly through various methods (FM, infrared, induction loop, Bluetooth, etc.),” Meyer says, noting that some have Bluetooth built-in so that you can connect to other devices (speakers, phones and so on).
Seeking out therapy counseling on top of interventions to help with hearing may also be helpful.
The main factor here is that if you believe you may have a problem hearing, it is better to get treatment sooner than later. Avoiding getting therapy because of anger or depression can only harm you in the long run.
It is essential to contact your audiologist or primary care physician if you believe you suffer from hearing loss. If left untreated, your hearing loss can eventually worsen, along with your feelings of depression or anger.
If you live in the Las Vegas area, consult Hearing Associates of Las Vegas for all of your hearing needs. With our dedicated team of professionals trained in telehealth services, we can help you get on the track towards healthy hearing.
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