Hearing loss

"Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people." — Helen Keller 1800-1968

In my 25+ year career working with people experiencing hearing loss one thing has become clear… hearing loss changes people. If we don’t understand, at first we ask over but eventually it becomes easier just to nod our heads in agreement even when we have no clue what was said. At this point we have lost our fellowship connection with others and we start down the road to isolation. We are on our way to becoming that person we said we would never be.
— Faron Blakeman, BC-HIS

Facts about hearing loss:

• In the US 30% of people over age 60 have hearing loss;
• 1 in 6 baby boomers (ages 41-59), or 14.6%, have a hearing loss
• 1 in 14 Generation Xers (ages 29-40), or 7.4%, already have hearing loss!
• At least 1.4 million children (18 or younger) have hearing problems

People with hearing loss are often embarrassed because they think that they are different or that they have a rare condition however 31.5 million people report a hearing difficulty; that is around 10% of the U.S. population. So if you have a hearing loss, understand that you are not alone.

(Sources: MarkeTrak Survey, Better Hearing Institute)