If you’ve noticed that your elderly loved one doesn’t seem to hear as well as she used to, you’re not the only companion care at home or family caregiver of an elderly loved one to notice that difference. Almost a third of elderly adults develop presbycusis, otherwise known simply as age-related hearing loss.
What is Presbycusis
Presbycusis is a gradual loss of hearing in both ears. It generally only affects the ability to hear high-pitched sounds and can go unnoticed by the person with the hearing loss for a long time. They simply keep making adjustments to volume levels around them to make up for the inability to hear certain sounds, and it isn’t until a family member or companion care at home caregiver stops by and starts asking questions about volume levels or notices behaviors connected to hearing loss.
Age-related Hearing Loss Symptoms
If you are wondering if your loved one has presbycusis, there are some key sounds that your loved one is no longer hearing, and you might be able to detect these symptoms in your loved one.
- Your loved one cannot hear high-pitched sounds. Perhaps your loved one doesn’t hear the tea kettle whistling or the beeping of the microwave oven timer going off.
- Your loved one becomes agitated and seems almost in pain when loud sounds are happening. She has a lot more intolerance for loud environments.
- Your loved one can’t follow conversations, especially in spaces where there is a lot of background noise, such as a restaurant or a busy gathering area like a church or a senior center.
- Your loved one seems to gravitate toward men’s voices, which are a deeper volume because they are easier for her to hear.
- Your loved one is declining social events in noisy environments to avoid struggling with conversations in which she doesn’t understand what is being said.
- If your loved one is willing to discuss her hearing challenges with you, she might indicate that she has a constant ringing sound in both ears (tinnitus) that interferes with much of her hearing.
Helping Your Loved One with Age-related Hearing Loss
After having your loved one’s hearing evaluated, the doctor may recommend a hearing aid or other assistive devices to help her navigate a world in which she can’t hear well anymore. Many home appliances can be reconfigured to assist her with hearing them or change the way they alert her (such as using a bright light instead of a sound).
Providing Companion Care at Home Can Reduce the Isolation Hearing Loss Creates
For many with hearing loss, the hardest part about it is the isolation they begin to feel due to the hearing loss. Your loved one may feel isolated from others when she cannot communicate well with them. She may feel like too much of a bother by constantly asking others to repeat themselves.
Having a companion care at home provider visit your loved one regularly is a great way to help her stay connected with others. The companion care at home provider can help with tasks around the home, but your loved one might most appreciate having someone to connect with who understands her hearing loss.
Even if your loved one doesn’t chat much with her companion care at home provider, she’ll appreciate having someone sit beside her for a while.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Companion Care at Home in East Lake, CA, please contact the caring staff at A Caring Touch Home Care today. Call (619) 344-0528
A Caring Touch Home Care is a Trusted Home Care Agency providing exceptional home care in Coronado, Del Mar/Del Mar Heights, Bonita, East Lake, La Jolla, Torrey Pines, Mt. Helix/La Mesa, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Carmel Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos, Point Loma, Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego and surrounding areas.
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