With the holiday season fast approaching, you’re probably going to be juggling countless events, shopping lists and more. With all that you have on your plate, it can feel easy to let stress bubble up and take away from your enjoyment of the season. The holidays can present even more unique challenges for those with hearing loss.
How Can Hearing Loss Impact the Holidays?
Holiday parties and dinners, big shopping trips and hosting extended family members can present near-constant communication struggles. You may often feel that you’ve missed the punchline of a joke, misunderstood the baked goods total at Williams Delicious or become stressed and tired at the effort communication requires.
The holidays are an opportunity to enjoy time with your family. Managing your hearing loss can help you get the most out of your holidays without added stressors and worries.
What Can You Do?
You don’t need to let stress from hearing loss become a new holiday tradition. Instead, consider employing a few of the following tips for managing your hearing loss:
- Take advantage of technology. More than 1.5 billion people (20% of the global population) live with hearing loss. Because hearing loss is so widespread, there are great technological options for accommodating it, including but not limited to hearing aids and speech-to-text software. Hearing aids collect and amplify speech sounds while reducing background noise to improve communication and ensure you aren’t missing another joke. Speech-to-text software is widely available on smartphones and video call software. Speech-to-text collects speech and transcribes it to give you a written record of the conversation. This record can help serve as guidance to avoid miscommunications during dinners.
- Pick a good spot at dinners. It is easier to understand people when you can see their faces while they speak. Choose a centrally located spot during dinners so that you can understand a wider amount of people more easily.
- Take breaks. Don’t forget the importance of giving yourself a break every now and then. Holidays can be stressful; if you feel overwhelmed, take five minutes in a quiet room to rest.
- Engage a buddy. A good friend can make all the difference during big events and shopping trips. They can resolve miscommunications, give you someone to talk to and lend a calming presence.
You can have the most stress-free holiday season possible by taking advantage of technology, picking a good spot at dinner, taking breaks and relying on a buddy. To learn more about managing your hearing loss, contact Hampton Roads ENT ~ Allergy today to make an appointment with one of our specialists.