The Frog in Hot Water
Feb 28, 2024
The Frog in Hot Water
It’s leap year and World Hearing Day approaches! — Would that that meant that on March 3rd, the day designated as “World Hearing Day,” everyone in the world could hear! And listen to each other! But… that’s another story.
According to the World Health Organization*, over 1.5 billion people live with hearing loss. Of these, nearly 430 million live with disabling hearing loss. Along with the challenges to quality of life, the WHO estimates that globally, “due to productivity losses and social exclusion,” unaddressed hearing loss incurs an annual cost of $980 billion. World Hearing Day stands as a global call to action.
What can you do, and why do it?
Assess your hearing. Make an appointment with an audiologist, or take a hearing test online. There are a number of self-administered tests available.
It is easy to ignore hearing loss until it becomes extreme. Even someone with “perfect” hearing has experienced situations where the speaker is unintelligible because they mumble, or their voice doesn’t carry across the distance, or the environment is too noisy.
For those of us whose hearing loss encroaches gradually, we may be oblivious to our own inability to hear. The phenomenon is not unlike the purported fate of the frog in gradually boiling water: Because it’s gradual, you don’t register the change. Though science debunks the literal case of a frog’s reaction to boiling water, the metaphor stands as a common characteristic of human nature: Gradual change does not immediately register as impactful.
You may hesitate to investigate the status of your hearing because:
you are unaware of the risks of untreated hearing loss, which can include compromised cognition, jeopardized physical stability, and strained personal relationships.
you don’t identify yourself as having hearing loss — or at least the degree of hearing loss that is significant enough to put you at risk.
our medical establishment does not prioritize hearing. (When was the last time you had a checkup? Maybe your doctor looked in your ears for visible signs of obstruction, but did they ask you about any hearing issues or suggest you get your ears tested?)
If you do determine you have hearing loss, there is not an easy fix:
The cost of hearing aids—even over-the-counter models—is beyond the reach of many.
Hearing aids don’t work like reading glasses where you can put them on and blurry words suddenly come into focus.
Even if you get hearing aids that are a “good fit” the experience is not immediate. It takes time to adjust.
Yet by taking action sooner than later, your brain and your loved ones will thank you. By asking your doctor for a hearing assessment, you may help raise the consciousness of the medical community. If the demand for hearing support equals the need, economy of scale could make treatment affordable.
How does that sound?
~ ~ ~
* source: WHO planning guide for World Hearing Day, p. 4 https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/health-topics/deafness-and-hearing-loss/whd-planning-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=5a94619a_3&download=true
photo: Jack Nevitt. www.JNevitt.com