Early intervention key to hearing health

Hearing loss is not just a normal part of ageing, Hearing Australia principal audiologist Emma Scanlan tells Australian Ageing Agenda – and it should not be accepted as such.

Around 70 per cent of older Australians aged 70 and over are facing hearing loss, with the number jumping to 80 per cent for people aged over 80.

Hearing loss can impact people’s ability to communicate, affect their relationships and mental health, see them pull away from social activities they used to enjoy and avoid social settings entirely, Ms Scanlan explained.

“They also maybe feel nervous about going into new environments or environments where they can’t control the noise because of their hearing and things like that,” Ms Scanlan told AAA.

“So it actually restricts their social opportunities to a certain extent.”

For older people in residential aged care environments there is more opportunity for interaction with staff, family and other residents, but people will still withdraw from situations where they might miss information.

Early intervention can prevent social withdrawal but because hearing loss happens slowly for most people, some might not realise their hearing has been impacted until it has deteriorated quite significantly.

“It’s often seven to 10 years after the onset of hearing loss where people start to notice issues and actually take action,” she explained.

“And it’s often other people who are pointing out to the person that they actually are having trouble with their hearing,” she added, giving the example of if someone puts the TV volume up by one point a day they might not notice anything, but a visitor who hasn’t seen them for 20 days most definitely will.

But because people with hearing loss also start to withdraw socially, they find themselves in fewer situations where an outsider might be able to flag further hearing loss.

“I think also people often just think hearing loss is a normal part of ageing and they don’t realise that there are lots and lots of things that you can do about hearing loss to stop having those effects on your communication and your relationships, and your mental health and even your physical safety, because people with untreated hearing loss also have a higher incidence of falls,” Ms Scanlan explained.

Attitudes are changing, early intervention still key

In the past, Ms Scanlan told AAA that there was stigma attached to wearing devices like hearing aids, as it was seen as an identifier of ageing.

But today, the popularity and scope of wireless technology in the wider population “has normalised having something in your ears.”

Ms Scanlan told AAA that she would love to see strong hearing health programs in all residential care environments, including hearing screenings when a new resident enters, audiology services that come and visit residents and more training.

“Because one of the main things is, most people only go to see an audiologist once, twice, maybe three times a year, whereas the staff are there all the time,” she said, “and a lot of people in residential care actually need help with things like either putting the devices in and out, or changing the batteries… keeping them clear of any wax or debris and things like that.”

“It really needs to be a whole facility approach to support people with hearing loss, and the benefits are huge – not just for the residents, but for the staff, for the family and friends, for the participation in activities and all of those things.”

Ms Scanlan added that she would also like to see older people still living at home take action as soon as they notice a problem with their hearing.

“Because what we want to see is that people take action early and therefore they don’t start to do the avoidance of situations, it doesn’t restrict their participation in things, they keep up their enjoyment of doing things – it means that the social isolation that we see higher levels of in people with hearing loss won’t be so prevalent and things like that,” she said.

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