managing hearing loss
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15 Tips for Choosing and Working With the Right Hearing Care Professional
An excerpt from the book “Hear & Beyond” By Shari Eberts and Gael Hannan
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hearing health
hhf.org
When Shari began having trouble hearing, she was not an expert on communication best practices. She thought that her audiologist would share a broad range of information with her, including things like accessibility options for watching TV or attending movies or the theater. But her first hearing care professional (HCP) focused the conversation solely on devices. What type of hearing aid did she want, and what was her budget? An audiologist with a different approach could have eased Shari’s transition to living with hearing loss and saved a lot of frustration and sadness. Today, Shari seeks out HCPs who extend their focus beyond the technical aspects of audiograms and hearing aid fittings to the emotional aspects of hearing loss, ones who take the time to understand Shari’s specific communication needs and plan her treatment to include new technologies. Gael’s current audiologists have more influence on her peace of mind and quality of life than anyone who is not a husband, child, or important friend. She sees her hearing professional more frequently than she sees her family doctor, because her hearing loss requires more attention and poses more barriers than any other health challenge. Her audiologist is a trusted advisor on her key technical supports, her hearing aid, and her cochlear implant. But, like Shari, that wasn’t always the case. One long-ago HCP stopped Gael mid-hearing test and said, “I don’t think you’re trying hard enough.” Others were dismissive of strategies outside the realm of the hearing aid. On the rare occasion when, in talking about her hearing loss, Gael cried, the practitioners waited for her to calm herself and then went on without addressing the raw emotion that was happening right there, in their office—a missed opportunity to provide much-needed support and advice. In another memorable appointment, Gael started to cry as she talked about her new and devastating tinnitus, and the recently graduated audiologist started to cry too. Gael ended up soothing her.
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