Hearing loss and aging
- Erica
- Mar 13
- 5 min read
with special reference to the South African Policy for Older Persons by Fanie du Toit
Aging can lead to various forms of impairment and associated disabilities. Legislation is clear regarding the specific needs of older persons with disabilities, which include persons with a hearing disability.
Here is what role-players in the field of hearing loss should know!
Almost 12 million people in South Africa have some form of hearing loss, of which 3.6 million have moderate loss or greater. Hearing loss affects approximately one-third of adults between 61 and 70 years of age, and rises to almost two-thirds of adults older than 70 years. (Source: Word Report on Hearing)
Men usually experience greater hearing loss and have an earlier onset compared with women. Many seniors who admit to experiencing hearing loss do not think the condition is serious enough to be corrected. While some people think their loss of hearing is simply part of aging and cannot be treated, others feel that it is not worth treating or even serious enough to warrant a hearing aid or assistive listening and/or living devices.
And peer support is available!
Whether a hearing loss is mild (missing certain sounds and pitches) or severe, it is a serious concern. Sometimes hearing loss can make you feel embarrassed, upset, and lonely. It's easy to withdraw when you cannot follow a conversation at the dinner table or at a family gathering.
The good news is that, depending on the type and extent of your hearing loss, there are many treatment choices and peer support structures that may help. Hearing loss does not necessarily have to get in the way of equal opportunities and inclusion.
Some resources for extra reading:
Hearing aids are small devices you wear in or behind your ear and can help some kinds of hearing loss by making sounds louder. However, hearing aids may sometimes pick up background noises, for example, traffic noise in the street or people talking in a crowded restaurant. This can affect how well you hear in certain situations.
An audiologist can help fit you with the hearing aid that will work best for you. If your hearing loss is severe, an audiologist may suggest a cochlear implant. In this surgery, the cochlear implant team puts an electronic device under the skin behind the ear. The device sends impulses to the brain. Cochlear implants help some people hear.
Aural Rehabilitation and Habilitation are aimed at enabling people with hearing loss to reach and maintain their optimal sensory functional levels, thus providing them with the tools to change their lives towards a higher level of independence.
Augmentative and alternative communication methods like lip reading, total communication, captions, or sub-titles can make a huge difference.
See your audiologist if you have trouble hearing over the telephone, find it hard to follow conversations when two or more people are talking, if you need to turn up the TV volume so loud that others complain, have a problem hearing because of background noise, and/or can't understand when women and children speak to you.
Functional Reports from health professionals (audiologists, etc.) may give a clear indication to what extent a person with hearing loss might be affected by the impact of hearing loss and, specifically, listening fatigue.
The White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2015) defines communication as follows:
"Communication includes languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia, as well as written, audio, plain-language, lip-speaking services, speech reading services, whisper interpretation, note-taking services, and augmentative and alternative modes, means, and formats of communication, including accessible information and communication technology."
Listening fatigue can affect the social relationships and overall happiness of people with hearing loss. The good news is that there are various ways to cope with fatigue and reduce exhaustion throughout the day. With hearing loss, your brain exerts more energy and effort than usual to process auditory information, slowly chipping away at your energy reserves throughout the day. This process can not only leave the person mentally exhausted but worn out physically as well. It’s about the energy involved in speech-reading and being attentive all day. Processing and constructing meaning out of half-heard words and sentences and figuring out context and then thinking of "something intelligent" to say in response.
A mild hearing loss doesn't just mean sounds aren't loud enough; it also means sounds aren't clear enough. If you have mild hearing loss, speech consonants like "f" and "th" or "k" and "p", may be lost during a conversation. That means it may be difficult for you to clearly distinguish between certain words. For example, the word "death" may sound like "deaf. There are strategies to make your daily activities easier and manage the communication challenges in line with reasonable accommodation principles.
The White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines Reasonable Accommodation as follows:
"Reasonable accommodation refers to necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments, as well as assistive devices and technology, without imposing a situation, where needed in a particular case, to ensure persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms."
Limit your exposure to noise throughout the day to give the complex processes in your brain a much-needed break.
Environments with a lot of background noise can apply more stress to the auditory cortex and overwhelm the person with hearing loss even further. As indicated, devices such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, assistive listening and living devices, or alternative methods of communication, and a working environment with good lighting and good acoustics can improve the quality of life of a person with hearing loss, leaving the person with more energy and enabling the person to articulate his or her specific needs in the workplace and in broader society.
Assistive devices
There are many assistive listening and living devices that can help. The list below includes some examples of the many choices: Telephone amplifying devices range from a special type of telephone receiver that makes sounds louder to special phones that work with hearing aids. TV and radio listening systems may be used with or without hearing aids, so you do not have to turn the volume up.
Assistive listening devices and technology are available in some public places, such as auditoriums, movie theatres, places of worship, and other meeting places.
Alerts such as doorbells, smoke detectors, and alarm clocks can give you a signal that you can see or a vibration that you can feel. For example, a flashing light could let you know someone is at the door or that the phone is ringing, etc.
Get involved in the FanieDreams Movement. Together, we are much stronger!
Excerpt of Section 4.6, "Older Persons with Disabilities"
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