Am I Too Old to Wear Hearing Aids?

Am I Too Old to Wear Hearing Aids?

We get this question a lot and the answer is always the same. No, you are not “too old” to wear hearing aids. The opposite also holds true, you’re never “too young” to wear hearing aids either.  Whether or not you wear hearing aids should be based on whether or not you have a hearing loss that can be helped by using hearing aids.

SO, WHAT’S THE REAL ISSUE?

Back to the original question, “am I too old to wear hearing aids?” Most of the time when we get to the heart of the matter the real question seems to be not so much “Am I too old?”, but “Is it worth it at my age to get hearing aids?”.  Your hearing is something you use every day, all day long. Here are few things that someone with a hearing loss will experience:

SIGNS OF A HEARING LOSS

  1. Trouble following conversation in a group
  2. Trouble hearing in noise
  3. Misunderstanding what others are saying and responding inappropriately
  4. Asking others to repeat what they say

How many times a day do you want to experience any of the above?  It’s also not uncommon for a hearing loss to be mistaken for other disorders, especially disorders that involve memory problems like dementia.

SIGNS OF DEMENTIA

  1. Difficulty communicating
  2. Difficulty remembering new information
  3. Difficulty following conversation when more than one person at a time is speaking

Dementia, is defined by the Alzheimer’s Association of America as,

“A general term that describes a group of symptoms-such as loss of memory, judgment, language, complex motor skills, and other intellectual function-caused by the permanent damage or death of the brain’s nerve cells, or neurons.”

Many of the symptoms associated with dementia can mimic the signs of a hearing loss creating a scenario where friends and family may confuse a hearing loss for early signs of dementia. In a best case scenario…asking someone to repeat themselves, appearing frustrated because you aren’t able to follow a conversation or responding inappropriately making better hearing well worth the expense no matter how old you are.