My Mom is getting a little hard of hearing. She doesn't want to hear that. Apparently, this is not uncommon among the elderly who are 70 and older. Nearly two thirds of elderly Americans have mild to severe hearing loss, men more often than women.
“There’s a general perception that hearing loss in older adults is not very important,” says Dr. Frank R. Lin, an assistant professor of otology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Maybe that's why my mother is dragging her feet about getting a hearing aid.
What's more important, elderly are going about their daily business with a handicap. Imagine driving -- much of what we do behind the wheel of the car is automatic, based upon subconscious information coming in through all of our senses. Knock out one of those sources of input, couple it with slower reaction times, and you have a recipe for hazard.
This didn't occur to me until I saw a documentary in PT school about a fellow who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He discussed his journey through recovery, the strain on his family and relationships, and getting his master's degree despite his disability. The most poignant moment of the film came at the end, when he and his father were going fishing. It symbolized moving on and rebuilding a relationship and life post-injury. His elderly father was hard of hearing, handicapped according to the author, but unaware of it in the terms that most of us think of it -- an invisible disability, much like TBI.
“There’s a general perception that hearing loss in older adults is not very important,” says Dr. Frank R. Lin, an assistant professor of otology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Maybe that's why my mother is dragging her feet about getting a hearing aid.
What's more important, elderly are going about their daily business with a handicap. Imagine driving -- much of what we do behind the wheel of the car is automatic, based upon subconscious information coming in through all of our senses. Knock out one of those sources of input, couple it with slower reaction times, and you have a recipe for hazard.
This didn't occur to me until I saw a documentary in PT school about a fellow who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He discussed his journey through recovery, the strain on his family and relationships, and getting his master's degree despite his disability. The most poignant moment of the film came at the end, when he and his father were going fishing. It symbolized moving on and rebuilding a relationship and life post-injury. His elderly father was hard of hearing, handicapped according to the author, but unaware of it in the terms that most of us think of it -- an invisible disability, much like TBI.
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