Joseph CascianiGeropsychologist, Consultant, Public Speaking, Freelance · Podcast Host of the Living to 100 Club | Clinical Strategies for Senior Residential Settings & Lifestyle Directors | Geropsychologist | Keynote Speaker

Hearing Loss and The Latest in Hearing Aids with an Audiologist, Brian Taylor

11 Mar 2024 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:57

In this segment, audiologist Brian Taylor explains why many individuals delay seeking help for hearing loss, often for a decade or more, as their hearing gradually declines. He describes the psychological coping mechanisms people develop—such as repeatedly asking others to repeat themselves, cupping a hand behind the ear, turning up volume, and avoiding noisy environments—that allow them to function but also mask the need for professional intervention. Taylor then outlines additional practical barriers that contribute to the underutilization of hearing aids, including age‑related declines in finger dexterity and hand‑eye coordination, which make it difficult to insert small devices, adjust volume controls on the aids themselves, or manage smartphone interfaces that accompany modern hearing‑aid technology.

Chapters

The psychology of hearing loss and the fact that most people go more, many years, sometimes more than a decade before they get help where their hearing gradually declines. And over that gradual decline, they develop some compensatory strategies that help them get by. So that's one area that you have to sort of overcome. You know, you can go a long time asking people to repeat, cupping your hand behind your ear, turning up the volume, Avoiding noisy situations before it kind of comes to a head and you really start to have difficulty. So there's this whole psychological aspect. That's one area that causes hearing aids to be underutilized. Other areas have to do with just the aging process per se. Your finger dexterity, your hand-eye coordination as you get older sometimes starts to wane, and that can get in the way of using a very small device that has to go in and out of your ear and requires you to manipulate a volume either on the hearing aid or on a phone, a smartphone. There's another set of reasons.