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The Sense of Hopelessness and Despair Living with Someone in Denial of Their Hearing Loss
Caregiving consumes those who care for those with a hearing impairment
Introduction
My mum hasn’t been suffering from hearing loss all her life. As a matter of fact, it is something that began quite recently. Or should I say, more than 15 years ago kind of “recently”. My mum’s hearing was fine all through her life save for the last 15 years, which is after she entered the 70–90 age bracket, and it gradually kept deteriorating with each passing year.
What was innocent and benign at first, soon turned into a source of daily frustration and torment. From asking us to repeat everything to her multiple times, to watching the television on extremely high volumes, the fallouts were starting to become unberable.
Living with someone with a hearing disability is trying and frustrating at the least, and unbearable at worst.
Hearing loss and its deleterious effects on caregivers
As my mom’s hearing gradually started deteriorating, my dad and I found ourselves not only having to speak at higher decibel levels, but also having to repeat ourselves over and over again just to be heard by her. In case we made the mistake of speaking softly, she would end up misinterpreting what we said giving a totally…
