Do you know that nearly 36 million Americans have reported they lost their hearing? I know; that’s an astounding number, and it’s the third most health problems in the United States, which is staggering also. There are many factors as to why people are losing their hearing from age; genetics and illness could contribute to those issues. One of the most common reasons people lose hearing has been noise. If you’re continuously listening to deafening sounds, whether it’s at your job, listening to loud music in the car or having the volume turned up in your headphones you could suffer from sort of hearing loss. Some lines of work have a history of reported hearing loss like 44% of carpenters and 48% of plumbers; with other lines of work that could hurt your hearing include the military, manufacturing, agriculture and transportation. Many people don’t know that high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes can affect your blood supply to the ears. There are several symptoms of hearing loss:
• Trouble understanding phone conversations
• Trouble hearing above background noise
• Trouble following a conversation when more than one person speaks at once
• Perception that people are not speaking clearly or mumbling
• Often misunderstanding what people say and responding inappropriately
• Often having to ask people to repeat themselves
• Frequent complaints by others that the TV is too loud
I’ll be honest; hearing loss is something that I’ll probably suffer from in the future because I’ve worked in noisy environments for so many years and my love of bumping blaring music when I was younger. After checking out some of the symptoms of hearing loss, I often complain about the TV being too loud, ask people to repeat themselves and have problem understanding people. Not only, I’m worrying about my hearing, but my concern is for my kids because they listen to music all the time and always have ear buds in their ears. The majority of people with hearing loss are actually younger than 65 years old and hearing loss among today’s teens is about 30 percent higher than in the 1980s and 1990s. Some people are even calling this group of young people #GenerationDeaf.
We all know that you can get different kinds of insurance coverage from health, dental, eyes, life and many more, but I didn’t know there was hearing insurance. So if you or someone you know are suffering from hearing loss, look around for opportunities to get covered and help relieve some of the costs of things like hearing aids. You can simply ask your HR department to ask what your benefits include. If hearing health is NOT a covered benefit for you, take a stand and request a change. EPIC Hearing Healthcare has created an advocacy flyer that anyone can just share to start a conversation with their HR professional. Download it at: http://www.epichearing.com/listenhear/resources/ #CoverYourEars
