Ask The Audiologist

Q.I can tell that my husband is not hearing as well as he used to. But he says that "hearing aids are for old people" and at 66 he doesn't like that image. Do you have any advice that might convince him to be checked? Any statistics on number of people wearing hearing aids? Thanks.

A.Since 1994 over 1 million "Baby Boomers" have come forward and acknowledged their hearing losses and have sought out improvement in hearing. Today, there are a wide variety of hearing aids that come in all sizes and levels of technology (including the newer digital signal processing hearing aids).

Too often, people ignore their hearing loss which actually causes them to withdraw from many listening situations. This also causes frustration for their family members, friends, and coworkers. I think that it is certainly better to wear hearing aids than misunderstand what people are saying.

Remember, hearing loss not only affects the person with the hearing problem, but his or her communication partners (for example, spouse) as well.