We’ve all done it, but just because it’s common doesn’t mean it makes any sense: making excuses. Sometimes it seems like it can be more work to think up imaginative excuses than it would be to just take responsibility and do the thing that you are putting off.
Consider these statistics: Almost 14% of all adults in the U.S. suffer from some detectable degree of hearing loss. That is a pretty astonishing number. That means that if you were at an average-sized wedding party, 14 of 100 guests would be living with hearing loss. Of course, hearing loss is vastly underreported, so it is impossible to get exact numbers, but that represents somewhere between 35 and 45 million Americans.
But that isn’t the most difficult statistic to believe. Less than 20% of everyone with hearing loss make it a daily habit of wearing hearing aids.
People Often Don’t Even Know It
In most cases, hearing loss comes on so incredibly gradually over such a long period of time that it is literally impossible for someone to even know that it is happening. We all make all kinds of subconscious adaptations every day. And we live busy lives. It might be simpler to procrastinate than to address minor inconveniences immediately. But hearing loss is not a minor inconvenience.
Usually someone doesn’t even consciously understand that they are having difficulty hearing. They just know that they are getting impatient trying to follow conversations in crowded public spots with background noise. We all rely on using context clues to fill in the blanks when we fail to catch single words,and practically everyone reads lips a little bit. This can slowly make socializing become fatiguing over time.
The moment that you suspect you may be having a little difficulty hearing, or maybe someone points out that you’ve been turning up your television extra loud, the time to take action is now. Hearing loss is permanent and irreversible, but with appropriate treatment, its symptoms can be minimized. It should impact your lifestyle and decisions no more than wearing glasses does. But you need to take action before its consequences begin to compound. More on those consequences later.
Lame Excuses
Denial
Maybe it’s just easier to lie to yourself than take responsibility for your own quality of life, but lots of people will just claim that they can hear perfectly fine.
Downplaying
Lots of other people will downplay the seriousness of their condition. Unlike outright denial, downplaying the severity of the problem acknowledges that the problem is real, but still procrastinates solving the problem.
Age
Some people psychologically reject their need for hearing aids because they believe that they are too young to need them. Other people believe they are too old to bother. Both of these are lame excuses.
Stereotypes
Antiquated stereotypes can block people from seeing the truth, even when it is they themselves that are directly impacted. They may think that they aren’t the type of person that uses hearing aids. Those are for other people. People also frequently just say hearing aids don’t work.
There Are No Good Excuses
Contemporary hearing aids, set up and maintained under the guidance of a specialist, will improve both the volume and clarity with which you hear. They are precise and effortless, comfortable and discreet. Hearing aids are an investment, but the returns on this investment are life-changing.
When someone makes excuses to not take appropriate treatment, more often than not, their hearing loss will lead to social isolation, loneliness, and depression. These feelings lead to confusion and anxiety, damaging your overall quality of life.
Being honest with yourself about the problems you face is the first step in resolving them. And being honest with yourself makes you responsible for dealing with them. Stop lying to yourself and others and take action today to deepen your connections to your family and friends, improve your career, and prevent the physical, emotional, psychological, and even cognitive consequences of hearing loss.
Make an appointment for an exam with one of our specialists today to get an objective analysis of where exactly your hearing stands and what the next steps that are just right for you may be.
