What a joy it is that the holiday season of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s is now upon us!
These are all terrific occasions to share time with family and friends with great conversations. While this is a wonderful blessing, it can also be a difficult challenge for those struggling with hearing loss. Coastal Hearing Care would like to recommend a few strategies you can use to hear your loved ones better during holiday gatherings.
Make Others Aware Of The Issue
Two of the worse things you can do with hearing loss are to 1) Pretend it’s not an issue and bottle up your frustration, and 2) Pretend that you heard what others said and respond with something unrelated to their message.
It’s far better to be upfront with your family about the problem so that they can make a few adjustments. Don’t assume that they won’t want to accommodate you. Also, if you don’t hear something they say, don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat it. It’s way worse to act as if you heard something, and reply in a way that doesn’t make sense, rather than request clarification.
Be Careful Around Loud Music
Many forms of hearing loss, including Tinnitus, can become aggravated and made worse by loud music. Politely ask your friends and family to adjust the volume. If that’s impossible, you’ll want to find ways to enjoy their company in a quieter environment. Moreover, they may have a way of adjusting the system to isolate certain kinds of sound into the background. Today’s audio technology can do marvelous things.
Dinner Time? Sit In The Middle!
If you can situate yourself in the center of everybody, you’ll have a much better chance of hearing and not having to ask for repetitions so often. Again, you’ll have to avoid being shy and speak to your family in advance. This is a chance to frame it as reducing conversation frustration. Coastal Hearing Care wishes you many blessings and joys during your holiday gatherings. Hopefully, these tips can lessen some of the problems you may encounter with several people chatting together simultaneously. We specialize in numerous ways to help improve your hearing with comprehensive evaluations, hearing aid technology, and more. Please feel free to reach us to learn more by calling (941) 229-2122.