According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Among adults aged 45 and over, hearing difficulties increased with age among men and women.” If you’re among this population and either you’ve made the investment in hearing aids or you’re planning to, you may have to not only adjust to them yourself, but also help your grandchildren do so. Below we review some tips for how to help your grandchildren understand your hearing aids.
Talk to Them About Your Hearing Loss
In order for your grandchildren to understand what your hearing aids do, you’ll first need to explain to them that you have hearing loss and what this means. How this conversation goes will depend on their age and maturity level. With younger children, you can explain that sometimes older ears don’t work as well as younger ears. With older children, you can talk about the factors that contribute to hearing loss and how they can keep their ears safe. For example, you can talk about the importance of safe listening and wearing hearing protection during noisy activities.
Show Them Your Hearing Aids
You can then show your grandchildren your hearing aids. Point out each different part, including the microphone, which picks up sounds in your environment; the processor, which makes sounds louder so you can hear them; the speaker, which delivers loud sounds to your ears; and the battery, which powers the device, similar to how batteries power their favorite toys. If you feel comfortable with it, you can even let them hold the hearing aids for a few moments.
Explain Communication Strategies
Tell your grandchildren that even with hearing aids, your hearing may not be as good as theirs. Then, go into communication strategies that will help you understand them better. For example, tell them to say your name or touch your arm before they begin speaking, make sure to not talk with food or gum in your mouth, have a conversation from the same room, sit or stand somewhere with good lighting and speak loudly and clearly when enjoying time at the playground in Arlington’s Quincy Park together. For more information or to schedule an appointment with a hearing aid expert, call ENT Specialists Of Northern Virginia today.