By Brian Taylor
Large family gatherings—weddings, Thanksgiving, a reunion—are the pinnacle of relationship building and spending quality time with the ones we love most. And while crucial to the social and familial lives of veterans, these settings can pose a serious challenge to veterans that have a hard time following conversations as a result of hearing loss.
Hearing loss impacts over 35 million Americans over the age of 18, and hearing challenges can be especially acute for veterans. Hearing loss, including tinnitus—a perceived ringing or high pitched humming in the ears—are by far the most prevalent service-connected disability among American veterans.
What’s more, data shows that veterans who suffer from noise induced hearing loss, particularly blast-related acoustic trauma, are more likely to report bothersome tinnitus and greater levels of self-reported hearing difficulty. This is particularly true for Air Force veterans, who are frequently exposed to high-decibel environments such as jet engines, aircraft operations and explosive devices.
Not only does hearing loss impact veterans’ own quality of life, but it also changes the way family members interact and communicate with them, and vice-versa. This poses a significant problem to veterans, because family communication is the bedrock of human relationships and hearing is a critical part of effective communication.
In the absence of communication and familial engagement, veterans who experience hearing loss tend to withdraw, which can lead to social isolation and an increased risk of physical and mental health problems—many that veterans are already at a higher risk of encountering. Therefore, addressing the ways hearing loss impacts internal communication is essential.
Hearing Loss Hits Home for Veterans
Hearing loss can be hard on families in ways that differ from the hardships among co-workers, mere acquaintances or the strangers that veterans encounter in daily life. For starters, families are, well, familiar with each other. They’re quick to notice the slightest hint of hearing loss in their veterans, quick to point it out and—if they’re the one struggling to hear—quick to ignore suggestions that, “You really should get your hearing checked.”
And when a family member does take action and gets fitted for hearing aids, they’re sometimes less than diligent about wearing them around the people they’re closest to. It’s not that familiarity breeds contempt, but we sometimes take for granted the family communication that’s ingrained in our dearest relationships—some of it even unspoken. That is, until we struggle to communicate.
Fortunately, veterans with standard hearing loss receive outstanding benefits from hearing aids, according to a recent study published by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
My father-in-law, a military veteran, struggled with his hearing for 30 years. He acquired hearing aids through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and they make a big difference—when he wears them. Which he does, for instance, at Fourth of July remembrances in his hometown of Chicago. But around his family, we sometimes need to remind him.
Indeed, family members with perfect hearing feel the effects of their loved ones’ hearing loss acutely, sometimes in the form of anxiety, frustration, misunderstanding or lack of connection. All of which can be dealt with through healthy communication. But we can’t lose sight of the nature of hearing loss itself, its risks and its unique impact on family communication, which forms the bond that brings veterans closer to their loved ones and support system. Fortunately, advances in hearing technology can ultimately strengthen those bonds.
When Veterans Miss What’s Important
In my profession as an audiologist, it’s been my experience that families often are the impetus for treating hearing loss—a key source of what we call a “salient event” that prompts someone to get the help they need. This tipping point usually occurs because the veteran experiencing hearing loss couldn’t understand something important to them.
It’s therefore important to understand that family communication with veterans is unique, and that hearing health is about more than amplifying sound. It’s about enhancing that communication through technology. Increasingly, those who study hearing health have come to believe that accounting for every day, noisy conditions is as important—if not more—than making things louder.
In other words, it’s not enough just to amplify sound for veterans with hearing loss; the goal should be to pinpoint and clarify the particular sound veterans want to hear so they can remain engaged and healthy. And because the places where people need to hear change constantly (folks move in and out of conversations, ambient noise fluctuates, acoustics vary), hearing in noise is a dynamic challenge.
Communication is also dynamic. It can be hyper-informal, with starts and stops, shouts and murmurs, points emphasized or trailing off. It sometimes starts in one room then continues from another, as one participant moves about. And often, it’s not linear. Many people talk at once, making it hard for anyone with hearing loss to follow and participate.
Plus, communication is by nature multi-frequency, with high-pitched voices and low, sonorous ones, based on age and gender. With hearing loss, it’s usually the high frequencies that dissipate first, meaning people struggle especially to communicate with children and female family members.
Hearing Aids That Understand the Needs of Veterans
Modern hearing technology is finally able to make sense of all of these family dynamics, and provide the support that veterans need and deserve. Sophisticated hearing aid technology platforms can process volumes of data in real time in order to enhance conversation as it happens.
My company, Signia, recently developed the Integrated Xperience (IX) hearing aid platform that knows to boost the volume of active speakers—wherever their voices are coming from—while diminishing ambient noise.
Integrated Xperience hearing aids can detect the different sounds in a room, identify and enhance the voices of speakers and reduce background noise so the veterans can focus on what they want and need to hear. As a result, veterans can follow everything that’s going on and contribute confidently to the conversations.
It’s particularly important for family members to encourage veterans to seek out hearing health technology, given that researchers believe that gunfire, aircraft and blast related trauma to the ear might cause greater disability than other types of damage to the ear. And experts believe that even the most supportive family members can’t fully understand the challenges faced by veterans with hearing loss, like how tired it makes them to try and follow a conversation. Or how background noise adds to the struggle.
Supporting veterans with the latest hearing aid technology allows them to live the best quality life possible and removes communication barriers amongst family members—critical to creating the connection needed to overcome challenges and reintegration into civilian life.
Brian Taylor, AuD, is the senior director of audiology for hearing aid manufacturer Signia. For more information on Signia hearing aids for veterans, visit signia.net/en-us/local/en-us/government-services/hearing-aids.
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