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There’s hope as soon as we learn to know that hearing is not truly a function of your ears. Instead, it’s a function of your brain. And it’s important to train your brain for active listening rather than just hearing the world around you. Here’re some simple yet effective tips to optimize your hearing aid experience:

·      Learn communication strategies

·      Learn how to focus your hearing

·      Solve puzzles, play games

·      Learn to build enough confidence  

Learn Communication Strategies

Older people can strengthen their listening skills with the right therapies and effective communication strategies. You can start your journey on this with hearing aids and they are necessary for most of the individuals. You can improve your listening skills with the right tools and information, as well as training. Training stretches your mind and builds your brain so it can both listen and hear at an appropriate level. Even if you use a hearing aid or other device, your ability to listen can be improved. Here’re some listening exercises for you to try:

1. Use the television to listen to a show in real time, and then evaluate your hearing by watching it again with closed caption on or in slow motion.

2. Listen to someone reading a newspaper and then read along with them as they talk. Try these in increasingly noisier environments to build skills.

3. Read along with audio books.

Learn how to focus your hearing

Now you can hear better with your hearing aid and can communicate well in many difficult situations. Now you have to become an active listener because in loud hearing situations, even people without hearing loss need to make an effort in order to hear what they need to hear and ignore the disruptive noises. Practice focusing on sounds you want to hear and ignore the troublesome noises.

Try making a conscious effort to ignore unimportant noises, and soon you will be able to focus your attention from one sound to another.

Solve puzzles, play games

Human brain plays an important role in processing the sound information that our ears receive and we can’t ignore it. A recent study done by the University of Pennsylvania indicates that there are links between hearing loss and mental conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Playing games and solving puzzles like crossword, word searches and Sudoku throughout the day or the week help to get your brain juices flowing and prevent brain atrophy.

Learn to build enough confidence 

People often lose confidence in their ability to communicate in noisy environments and they simply drop or avoid such environments. This may ease embarrassment in the short term but in long run it costs them personal and social contacts. And, of course, social isolation is known to be a huge risk factor for developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Always look out for the positives in your life and focus on your achievements. We can’t control our hearing loss. But we can control how we react to the challenges life gives us. And this gets easier the more we practise it.