PARDON? Can you look at me so I can hear you? Or no reaction at all. Have you ever experienced these responses or similar when speaking to someone?
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Or maybe this is the response you give others.
Hearing impairment could be the problem, but the solution could be as simple as a diagnosis, the correct hearing aid fitted and the knowledge on how to effectively use the new hearing device.
One Highlands woman, Pat Fulton, has suffered reduced hearing for more than 50 years.
She said she was one of the many people who wouldn’t use her hearing aid because she “couldn’t get it right” and she found herself telling her husband to “turn on the lights” so she could hear him – she wanted to read his lips.
A newfound knowledge of correct hearing aid use saw her turn the volume up on life and she has dedicated the past nine years helping others with hearing problems do the same.
But she has her work cut out for her with one in six Australians suffer hearing loss, a condition invisible to most people.
Even worse, many people have not had their condition diagnosed while some of those who have don’t know how to best cope with the problem.
The greatest challenge for many is the effective use of their hearing aid.
A retired registered nurse, Mrs Fulton is sounding out the solution as a hearing coach and advocate for hearing impairment.
She has conducted an information stall in the Highlands for the past nine years during Hearing Awareness Week in late August and led by the Deafness Forum of Australia.
“I don’t sell anything I just make myself and information available to help people better cope with their hearing problems,” she said.
“The biggest problem is simply the continual use of a hearing aid.
“Every person has their hearing aid custom fitted to suit them.
“The problem is that when they first start using them they can hear every little noise and that can be quite unnerving.
“I could remember hearing my petticoat rustle as I walked down the street when I used my hearing aid for the first time.”
Mrs Fulton said the key to good hearing aid use was to have it turned on all the time and regularly change the batteries.
“About 30 per cent of people with hearing aids don’t use them often claiming they don’t work properly,” she said.
“People are taught the technical stuff when they get their hearing aid, but often they aren’t told that they take a little bit of getting used to.
“The simple fact is that continual use of the hearing aid enables the brain to train itself to the new sounds being picked up.
“A person living on a busy street soon learns to block out the sounds of traffic because the brain trains itself to the environment, the same happens with the new sounds picked up with a hearing aid.”
Mrs Fulton has initiated a Hearing Buddy program in the Highlands in conjunction with the Rodmell Fund so that more people can spread the word about challenges for the hearing impaired and the value of using a hearing aid.
She said the buddy program educated nurses in aged care facilities so that they could better understand and help residents with a hearing problem.
Meanwhile Mrs Fulton has more recently gained the support of the Quota International Club of Moss Vale Incorporated.
The service organisation’s charter worldwide is to serve the hearing and speech impaired and disadvantaged women and children.
Mrs Fulton, who is president of the Moss Vale Quota, said the club member’s had enthusiastically rallied support for hearing awareness both in the Highlands and further afield.
She said a Moss Vale club initiative was the Hearing Helper, a workplace reference, which provided “quick tips” on how to manage people with a hearing impairment and help with their communication.
She said the reference, which has more recently secured council funding under the Community Assistance Grant, would be distributed to emergency services, hospitals and in medical waiting rooms and aged care facilities.
Other Quota clubs have also picked up the concept.
