Hearing Informed

Trying to make ends meet , you’re a slave to the money then you die.

- The Verve

This statistic comes from a BIH (Better Hearing Institute) study that suggests that hearing loss, when left untreated, translates into a per household job earnings loss of up to $12,000 a year.

The BIH study elucidates the fact that earnings power isn’t the only thing lost from an untreated hearing impairment. Quality of life is compromised on many levels: physical and emotional health, self-image and self-esteem, social skills ( a requirement for success in any workplace environment), family relationships, e.t.c.

There are distinctly different demographics combined within the report. For example, there are those who lost their hearing later in life and those who were born with a hearing impairment (technically not a loss, because it wasn’t there to begin with). A person who was born with a hearing impairment or early loss has a head start with adjusting and adapting to listening environments. An individual who loses their hearing laster on in life must adapt at a later age- when the mind is less malleable and more set in its ways. The brain must re-learn and adapt to a very different hearing landscape.

If you have a high frequency hearing loss (the most common kind) - then you aren’t likely to hear a thing coming out of the alarm clock of your digital watch. Alarm clocks beside the bed are a different matter- you can usually adjust the volume and have it set to a cacophonous radio station.

Before a trip that I made to Peru I did a search on the internet: “watches for the hearing impaired”. I came up with a couple places and I decided to try a watch called the VibraLight 3. This watch has a vibrating alarm clock that jolts your wrist and you awake. This seemed like just the right watch and it came in a number of nifty colors and styles reminiscent of my classic Casio.

The watch turned out to be an utter failure.

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