Summit, NJ – Stepping into the World of Hearing Problems and How It Can Improve Senior Care
Approximately one third of adults between the ages of 65 and 74 have some type of hearing related problems, according to MedicineNet.com. That number increases to nearly half for seniors 85 and older. There could be a variety of hearing issues that the individual is dealing with at any given time. Minor issues could include missing certain sounds or something more severe, such as being profoundly deaf.
The more a person understands about hearing loss and other hearing related problems, the better the quality of senior care they provide will be. There are many ways that hearing loss can affect life. One of the most significant has to do with communication. If the senior who relies on some type of home service usually talks to family members or friends on the phone, their hearing loss could make this almost impossible now.
There are certainly technological innovations to make it easier for hearing impaired individuals to hear or communicate by phone, but it may reach a certain point where not even those advancements will help.
Having difficulty hearing what somebody’s telling you over the phone can make it difficult and frustrating for both members of that party. If the senior continually has to ask the other person on the other end of the line to repeat himself or herself, this can reduce the desire for them to have these phone conversations.
If the senior relies on a professional care provider, having significant hearing loss can make it incredibly difficult for them to work with this other individual. If it’s a family member, that person may become frustrated if they feel they continually have to repeat themselves over and over, telling the elderly individual what to do or when to do it.
It’s easy to forget that an elderly client who relies on some type of care at home is still an independent person who has every right to decide the course of his or her care. Dictating what they should or shouldn’t do, the things they should avoid, or even things they should try might feel like they’re doing the best thing for the elderly individual.
When a person has significant hearing loss, it can feel more isolating for them. It can also cause them to stop trying to communicate all together, which isn’t going to benefit them.
In order to fully appreciate what somebody may be dealing with, put earbuds in, play instrumental music or create white noise, and walk around for a couple of days like that. Don’t take the earbuds out when somebody tries to talk to you. Set the volume low enough so that you can hear somebody is talking to you, but maybe not what they are actually saying. Within a few hours of this you’ll understand what it might actually be like for the senior in your care. That could help you improve the quality of the care you provide.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring senior care services near Summit, NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at (908-418-4299).
Providing Home Care Services in all of Northern and Central NJ, including Clark, Westfield, Cranford, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Linden, Summit, Edison, Elizabeth, Mountainside and the surrounding areas.
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.
Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
Robert is a Google Verified Author
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