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Ask HN: My father is starting to lose his hearing. What should I do?

by edtech_dev on 1/18/24, 2:01 AM with 24 comments

My dad is in his mid 70s. He is otherwise very healthy, but has started showing signs of hearing loss. What steps can we take to prevent, reverse, or correct this issue?

Seeing our family doctor and getting a hearing test, and perhaps a hearing aid seems like the obvious next step. But as great as modern medicine can be, there are gotchas because of incompetence or greed that you have to watch out for - for e.g. dentists pushing for unnecessary procedures to fund their next car or doctors prescribing nasal sprays that do more harm instead of treating the root cause etc. I am just trying to be cautious of going down the wrong path with this stuff.

Given how insightful this community is, I thought I'd try posting here. Does anyone have any experience in this subject? What kind of a doctor/specialist/institute should we see? What are the best aids?

Note: I'm in Canada

  • by PaulHoule on 1/18/24, 2:08 AM

    Recently there has been an explosion in hearing aids from new manufacturers and the rules for selling them have been loosened so there is more competition than ever.

    My understanding is that, unlike dentists, audiologists are pretty honest, but hearing aids have been crazy overpriced for a long time.

    See https://hearingreview.com/hearing-products/hearing-tech-inno... and https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-06/hearing-a...

  • by cc101 on 1/18/24, 2:50 AM

    People losing their hearing due to old age often have difficulty believing that they have a problem. They often blame others for not speaking loudly or clearly enough. Proceed with care and understanding. It can be a good idea for both parents to get tested together. That can tend to relieve resentment and doubt without embarrassing them both.

  • by webprofusion on 1/18/24, 3:44 AM

    See a general practice doctor first, they will refer you to an audiologist if it's more complex than needing ears syringed (common!). If the audiologist thinks it's anything sinister or unexpected they will refer you to a specialist.

    Any specialist treatment for age related hearing loss beyond a hearing aid will cost much more than a hearing aid from even the most money grabbing hearing aid sales person.

    Ask your father what he wants, he probably wants to ignore it but get a hearing test anyway. They will immediately try to sell a hearing aid so be prepared to say you'll come back for that later.

  • by troydavis on 1/18/24, 2:09 AM

    There are relatively few reversible/preventable causes at that age. This is just life. What he can probably do is eliminate nearly all practical impact from this problem.

    To do that, get an audiologist-administered hearing test, then discuss the results with an otologist/ENT. Often this is done in the same office visit.

    Among other things, the audiologist will test where the loss is occurring (Google "Rinne and Weber tests" or bone vs. air conduction), and at which frequencies. Get hearing devices tailored to those frequencies. The otologist will recommend options. These aren't likely to be all that expensive.

    There's no real opportunity for greed or snake oil here. If the otologist's advice works, the results are literally audible.

    This is not a difficult problem to almost completely solve, and it makes a huge difference in quality of life and healthspan: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi... (Update: apparently this study was retracted - see reply)

  • by MathMonkeyMan on 1/18/24, 3:05 AM

    Is there Costco in Canada? Everyone on my mom's side is half deaf, and one of her brothers swears by Costco's hearing aid situation. You could get fitted and tested there for not much money, or you could see a doctor and pay 50x more. Secondhand information, anyway.

  • by k310 on 1/18/24, 2:36 AM

    IF his hearing problem is simple volume loss, and do get a professional audiologist to evaluate his hearing, then AirPods can help at considerably less cost.

    Here are some articles on the matter.

    https://www.ncoa.org/adviser/hearing-aids/airpods-hearing-ai...

    https://www.forbes.com/health/hearing-aids/airpods-hearing-a...

    https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-use-your-apple-airpo...

    If the problem is diagnosed to be complex, follow the doctor's advice. I can't speculate on how to evaluate/compare different prescription options that may be offered.

  • by Jemaclus on 1/18/24, 6:13 PM

    Hearing aid wearer here. There's a certain element of salesmanship that happens at hearing aid centers, but audiologists do use science to evaluate your hearing levels and they should be more than happy to show your hearing charts to you. You can take that chart to someone else and get a second opinion, if you really want to.

    I don't frequently get upsell attempts by my audiologists, but they will lay out some options. They'll say "This one is what you need. If you want Bluetooth, this one works better for most people. This one over here has a really great iPhone app but doesn't work well with Android." I never have had someone say "You absolutely must use this one, because I said so."

    TL;DR: Take your dad to an audiologist, get a professional opinion, get a second opinion if you want to. I would recommend getting your hearing aids from an audiologist and not a "Hearing Aid Center."

    Good luck to your father! Hearing loss is tough, but treatable!