You’re missing telephone calls now. , it’s that you can’t hear the phone ring. In other cases dealing with the garbled voice on the other end is just too much of a hassle.
But it’s not just your phone you’re shunning. Last week you missed basketball with friends. This type of thing has been happening more and more. Your beginning to feel a little isolated.
The real cause, of course, is your loss of hearing. You haven’t quite figured out how to integrate your diminishing ability to hear into your everyday life, and it’s leading to something that’s all too common: social isolation. Getting away from loneliness and back to being social can be difficult. But we have a few things you can try to achieve it.
Acknowledging Your Hearing Loss is The First Step
Sometimes you aren’t really sure what the cause of your social isolation is when it first begins to occur. So, noticing your hearing loss is an important first step. That could mean making an appointment with a hearing specialist, getting fitted for hearing aids, and making sure you keep those hearing aids in working order.
Telling people in your life that you have hearing loss is another step towards recognition. Hearing loss is, in many ways, an unseen health condition. Someone who has hearing loss doesn’t have a particular “look”.
So it isn’t something anybody will likely notice just by looking at you. To your people around you, your turn towards isolation could seem to be anti-social. Talking about your hearing loss can help people around you understand what you’re dealing with and place your responses in a different context.
You Shouldn’t Keep Your Hearing Loss Secret
An essential first step is being honest with yourself and others regarding your hearing loss. Getting regular hearing aid exams to make sure your hearing hasn’t changed is also important. And curbing your first inclinations toward isolation can also be helpful. But you can deal with isolation with several more steps.
Make Your Hearing Aids Visible
There are lots of individuals who place a premium on the invisibility of hearing aids: the smaller the better, right? But if people could see your hearing aid they might have a better understanding of the difficulty you are living with. Some people even go so far as to emblazon their hearing aids with customized art or decorations. By making it more obvious, you encourage other people to do you the courtesy of looking at you when they talk to you and making sure you understand before moving the conversation forward.
Get The Correct Treatment
If you aren’t correctly treating your hearing ailment it will be quite a bit harder to cope with your tinnitus or hearing loss. Treatment methods could be very different depending on the situation. But wearing or properly adjusting hearing aids is commonly a common factor. And even something that simple can make a real difference in your day-to-day life.
Let People Know How They Can Help You
It’s never enjoyable to get yelled at. But individuals with hearing impairment regularly deal with individuals who think that this is the best way to communicate with them. So letting people know how to best communicate with you is vital. Maybe texting to make plans would be a better option than calling. If everybody can get on the same page, you’re not as likely to feel the need to isolate yourself.
Put People In Your Path
It’s easy to avoid everyone in the age of the internet. That’s why intentionally placing people in your path can help you avoid isolation. Go to your local supermarket rather than ordering groceries from Amazon. Set up game night with your friends. Social events should be arranged on your calendar. Even something as basic as taking a walk around your neighborhood can be a great way to see other people. Besides helping you feel less isolated, this will also help you to identify words correctly and to keep processing sound cues.
Solitude Can Be Harmful
If you’re separating yourself because of untreated hearing impairment, you’re doing more than curtailing your social life. Isolation of this sort has been connected to cognitive decline, depression, worry, and other mental health problems.
Being sensible about your hearing problem is the best way to keep yourself healthy and happy and to keep your social life going in the right direction, be honest about your situation, and remain in sync with family and friends.