Society Journal

Many people who wear hearing aids are self-conscious, not only about being able to hear what people are saying but about how they look as well.  Society has placed high standards on the way people look, and this makes someone who uses any type of aid, including eyeglasses, feel self-conscious or bad about themselves.  If you look in the grocery stores checkout aisles at all the magazines, all of the models are beautiful and none of them are wearing eyeglasses.  However, it would be hard to tell if they were wearing a hearing aid because with today’s advanced technology, hearing aids are much smaller and fit more comfortably inside the ear canal rather than hanging on the outside of the ear. 

The deaf community has their own place of higher learning, Gallaudet University. They also have Marlee Matlin, an award-winning actress who became deaf at 18 months old due to an attack of Roseola Infantum.  However, there are many hard of hearing actors, actresses and community leaders that do not go public with their hearing loss for fear society will shun them.  Most people who suffer from a hearing loss have a voice in place because they have heard words spoken; however their voice changes because they cannot hear their own voice at times without the assistance of a hearing aid.

A hearing loss cannot be reversed; however many people have tried human growth hormones in order to help them feel younger in addition to helping reverse the aging process.  Many people believe, although there is no scientific proof, that a human growth hormone could stop the aging process.

Hearing aids have come a long way since the days of a large transistor radio style box that was taped to one’s chest and had two wires connecting up to the ears.  Society used to treat people who wore these large style hearing aids as if they were somehow not as smart as hearing people. However, their learning ability and IQ had nothing to do with their hearing loss.  People who worked in a hearing clinic would be the most understanding of a hearing impaired person’s plight against society and what it considers “the norm.”

As a whole, society is more accepting of people who wear dentures or eyeglasses than they are of someone who wears a hearing aid.  Somewhere along the line, hearing aids have gotten a “bad rap” even though they are a much needed medical device. Even the use of prescription drugs are more acceptable than hearing aids.

If the hearing impaired community had a spokesperson, like the deaf community has Marlee Matlin, then more people would be accepting of someone who wears hearing aids.