Would you happily wear a hearing aid if needed?

I have short hair so it would show but I think if I needed it, I would wear one as I am probably past worrying about how I look in regards to something like that.

Although they are very small nowadays, they are still obvious with short hair but SO WHAT! When you're old, you're old, and any help is appreciated!

by Finy

Oh, you mean feeling self conscious about it. Well, it shouldn't be any different from wearing glasses. I guess it could be seen as a sign of aging, but so are glasses for some people (eg. if you start wearing them because you become near sighted as you age, as I did).

Quite happily. I couldn't give two hoots. They can, unfortunately, be very uncomfortable and need experts to fit and adjust them. I have had hearing aids in my family since I was born and have grown up seeing how painful they can be. These days they are waaaaay better than back in the 50s and 60s and are far less likely to cause pressure spots. Having said that, my brother's aids are worth 12 thousand dollars and can still make his ear sore on occasion :(

by Rice

wow, $12,000 - I am a bit behind the times!! I wonder if they cut out the background noise nowadays

Yes, Finy, they do and they also have other features too, one of which is making them much more compatible for phones as the feedback on old hearing aids made it near impossible for my dad and brother to use a phone. They have chips in them that make them able to self adjust, which is wonderful but they need looking after very well. My brother wears a hat to keep any rain off them and he stows them in special bags at night etc.

I wouldn't be happy about needing one, but I imagine if I needed one I'd wear it. Don't know though, I have heard some people find they are more trouble than they are worth, maybe they don't have very good ones or something? I don't know much about it.

by Jennifer Muirhead

Funny, but not so funny, is the fact that people ignore glasses but immediately start to shout when they see a hearing aid(!) and/or start to qualify and repeat what they have said as if the wearer is an idiot. My brother gets VERY cranky. My brother with a degree, who is a CPA and all round talented person, who happened to go deaf in his late 20s. Gah. People are weird.

That sucks.

I cant see why not, if you need help with hearing. The need to hear is more important than vanity. You would think that in an aging society, a lot of people over a certain age would have one, so you would be the odd one out if you didn't. Technology is improving all the time, so someone may invent something a lot better one day. I know from working in hospitals and aged care, that most people who have them, choose not to wear them. I think that is more about sound quality than vanity, so I have been told.

by Lluxi

apparently there are the Medicare ones and then there are the $7000 ones and there is a huge difference!

Yes, the digital ones are better quality so they cost more

I would definitely wear one, not being able to hear would be annoying!

by meggf

If I really needed one, yes I would wear one.

I think it could be dangerous not too.
Loss of hearing to me is a concern, if I can't hear what is going on around me....then I would feel very vulnerable.
I would not care two hoot's if people knew.
It's part of life, and hearing to me is vital.

by jonaja

I do wear one and its great unless i start sweating then they fall off and out....

by lc212

Yes I would as long as it is hidden.

by Diana Nairn

I have no qualms at all about doing what is needed to make my daily life better! Of course,I would wear one if I had a hearing problem!!Pretty silly NOT to,in my humble opinion!! The hearing aids today are just amazing with so many special features, and they are also so tiny,compared to the ones in the past! I cannot understand why people would not wish to make their lives easier and safer.When I was at school in the 60's/70's we had several kids in various classes who wore hearing aids,and back then they were huge ,ugly things which made those poor children extremely self conscious due to being teased by the awful thoughtless kids who are in every school.The modern aids have helped to reduce so much of this negative behaviour,and they are almost unnoticeable.A huge boon for the children who have hearing problems!! If these youngsters have no problem wearing these items,why on earth would I ever complain?!

by Jules

If I had to, I would wear one. But I wouldn't be happy with the fact that I need to wear it.

by dwatk

Of course I would if I couldn't hear. It's lonely being deaf and they make them so discrete today it's hard to detect.

by nat_c

I have hearing aids and wear them if need be (usually in crowded meeting places).
They are very small and cannot be seen unless someone is looking to see if I wear hearing aids.
My hearing was damaged whilst working many years ago and as such were provided for by my former employer.
I lost most of the high frequency part of my hearing, with the new hearing aids they help fill that deficiency.
Farley

by farle

Yes,i wear if i needed it .

by syama

I suspect I may well need a hearing aid when I am a bit older. My mother wears one, and my father did too. I've had relatively poor hearing from childhood, but not poor enough to need help with it, beyond paying particular attention when people are speaking.

by carolyncordon

What ?

by wotsy

What ?

by wotsy

My grandfather was profoundly deaf and although, way back in my younger days, the hearing aids were a long twisted plastic coated tubing device connected to this large battery encased in stainless steel and housed in his top pocket, he was totally at sea during famiky conversations as he just couldn't hear. He told me he would rather have lost a limb than his hearing. My mother also became profoundly deaf and this woukd have started in her 50's but she was a lot luckier as she had state of the art hearing aids which did take some time getting used to because the frequency levels decreased and increased as her hearing deteriorated as she became older to the point where there was nothing more the techs could do to give her a better quality of hearing, so yes, if I needed them I would wear them as I know how insecure one can become when you can't understand what's being said around you.

by helga

Most definitely YES.
My father lost his hearing and from his 40-50s was completely deaf in one ear and had 10% hearing in the other. His only ability to be able to hear was to wear a hearing aid. He did not qualify for a bionic ear as (at the time these were making medical headway, he was considered not deaf enough or too old). The irony is that when my father was in the late stages of cancer, he was asked whether he would like to be a candidate for a bionic ear (I won't go into my disgust about the way he was treated).

Over the years, people treated my father as though he was "simple" not realising that he couldn't hear what they were saying. The embarrassed looks on their faces when they discovered he was an articulate and intelligent person simply marred by the ability to hear was cruel and unjustified in their initial treatment.

Hearing aids have become smaller and the technology significantly better, which allowed for a much better quality of life for him.

Having lived my youth and adult life with a parent who was so profoundly death has made me appreciate the wondrous gift that sound is. When I suffered from a perforated ear drum from a virus (pain aside) the ability NOT to hear was simply awful.

My mum is ageing and her hearing deteriorating however she refuses to believe she is experiencing hearing loss and will certainly not consider a hearing aid. It's such a shame because she is starting to miss out on a lot of conversations around her. I would hate for her to experience what my dad went through being deaf.

Vanity aside, I wouldn't compromise and would certainly not hesitate on ensuring my senses are functioning as best to capacity as possible and if that means wearing glasses or contacts to see (which I wear) or whether that means wearing a hearing aid, I would.

by Annalisa Brown

Yes I would, and do. I had a brain tumour many years ago, the removal of which left me deaf on my left side. No problem at the time as I had good hearing in my right ear. Over the years the right ear has been working overtime to compensate for the loss on the left side, and my hearing has now diminished. I can hear reasonably well but with difficulty in crowded places.

I eventually bit the bullet and, after some initial resistance, visited the audiologist. She fitted me with a hearing aid which is so tiny that most people are unaware I have one (I wear my hair up most of the time too). The great thing is my particular model comes in a range of colours - I chose red my favourite colour - this blends in with my red glasses. It is virtually undetectable and comfortable to wear as it is so tiny.

The cost was $3000 as I only needed one aid. My health fund and the Government covered a large proportion of the cost and I was only $700 out of pocket. I was pleasantly surprised as that was a top of the range model and I had heard that hearing aids were horrendously expensive, so the financial outlay wasn't as bad as I had thought.

by norma

Absolutely. Not being able to hear what's going on would be terrible. And with all my hair, no-one would be able to see them anyway!

by poppy