Three quarters of older Australians with hearing problems are shunning hearing aids to avoid embarrassment or because they don’t want to be seen as ‘elderly’.
A Newspoll survey of 1000 Australians aged 60 and over found that almost half have a hearing problem but many do nothing about it.
Respondents were up to three times more likely to say that their partners avoided hearing aids because of personal vanity than admit to vanity themselves.
A quarter of participants said their partner was too proud to wear a hearing aid.
Close to 50 per cent of participants with hearing difficulties said they did not wear a hearing aid because they felt it would not be of any benefit to them.
“There is little point in chasing youthful vitality if your hearing is holding you back,” said Sydney audiologist,” Deborah Pallett.
“Nothing gives your age away more than inappropriately shouting at the checkout assistant or getting grumpy because you can’t hear properly.”
A Sydney-based hearing aid manufacturer GN ReSound, which has developed a new device that sits discreetly in the ear canal, said it is important to overcome these barriers to proper hearing.
“A good, discrete hearing instrument may not be the only anti-ageing product around, but it is one of the most effective,” said the company’s General Manager, Asger Hattel.
