Struggling With Hearing Loss? We’ve Got the Solution AND a $1000 Coles Myer Gift Card

Proudly brought to you by Bay Audio

Listen. What can you hear? Right now I can hear a clock ticking, traffic on the road, birds through an open window and the tap of my fingers on the keyboard.

They are everyday sounds that I take for granted hearing… even though so many people do not hear them at all.

Did you know one in six Australians suffers from hearing loss and more than half the population between 60 and 70 years old have some level of hearing loss?

And while you may think hearing loss is associated with the ‘older generation’, of quite concern is the fact it’s becoming more common in younger demographics.  More and more adults at the 50 year mark are now requiring treatment largely because of the amount of noise that we’re subjected to in our daily lives. Interestingly, many people don’t even realise they have hearing loss and on average people wait seven years before visiting a hearing clinic.

Part of the reason for this is the different types of hearing loss can make it easy to miss the symptoms, some of which include:

• Increased difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds
• Ringing ears
• Missing everyday auditory cues such as a ringing telephone or doorbell
• Difficulty hearing at public gatherings, group conversations or with background noise

Another reason that some people wait so long before visiting a hearing clinic is because they’re scared or nervous that they may be stigmatised by the bulky and unattractive hearing aids that used to be available to help with their hearing.

But times have changed and technology has a lot to be thankful for. Now there are a variety of devices which have a huge impact on a person’s quality of life but very minimal visual effect on the wearer.

And they are life-changing.  For everyday people like you and me.

Meet Helen.

She’s a 40-something girlfriend of mine who at age 39, and pregnant with her second child was subjected to 4 months of hospitalisation and bed rest due to complications. That meant A LOT of laying on one side.

After her son was born and they were back home, she noticed when sleeping on her right side she couldn’t hear him cry in his room. The sound was strangely muffled.

Unsure what to think, she kept an eye on it for a while and one day by chance she was walking past a hearing centre at her local Westfield and decided to walk in and have her hearing tested. Having never been to a hearing centre before, Helen was somewhat in denial for a while thinking she was too young to be losing her hearing. There was no family history and it seemed to have just come out of nowhere so was unsure if her loss was just temporary or permanent.

The hearing test confirmed a significant difference between her left and right hearing and so she was soon referred to a reputable ENT specialist. They performed some in-depth testing to work out exactly what was causing her hearing loss – her diagnosis being Osclerosis, a disorder characterised by abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear, frequently causing hearing impairment. Quite often pregnancy and changes in hormones can lead to an accelerated case of this disorder.

She had noticed quite a rapid decline in her quality of hearing so her ENT referred her to her local Hearing Aid specialist in Adelaide to be fitted for a hearing aid.

Helen was quite apprehensive and nervous wondering what life with a hearing aid would be like, being a 40yo woman and really only associating hearing aids with older people. She was afraid of a stigma being associated with them.

That didn’t last too long once she got to see just how discreet and powerful hearing aids were these days and how hers could be custom moulded to fit inside her ear, rather than the typical over the ear model we may be accustomed to.  Within a couple of weeks her hearing aid was ready and she began life with full hearing like she was used to.

When I asked Helen how she felt when they fitted her hearing aid for the first time she could only describe it as “feeling a weight was lifted off her shoulders”, as she wasn’t straining so much to hear and like she felt ‘balanced’ again.

“No longer was she struggling to keep up with what people were saying, trying to read lips, deciphering sounds from different angles and missing out on half of the conversation.”

Had it not been for that one fateful stop at the hearing aid centre that day, she may have gone on for much longer, with her hearing deteriorating, not doing anything about it purely out of fear and denial.

Thinking about the quality of life, and how this has improved, Helen confidently shares that there’s no longer any confusion or embarrassment about what people are saying. No longer do I question if people have asked me a question and I just haven’t answered it. I used to always wonder if I was missing something.

“I feel more confident in myself, more balanced overall and it’s given me the ability to be in all sorts of circumstances without having to struggle to follow conversations.”

Often in a busy café or area with background noise she’d find it so hard to follow a conversation, and it would literally sound to her like someone was clanging cymbals next to her ears. That was before her hearing aid. Now she can define sounds so easily and follow conversations with no trouble.

Take a look at Helen’s hearing aid, and just how discreet they can be.

In case you missed it, here’s her zoomed in version:

The team at Bay Audio have been changing lives since January 2007. With 35 hearing locations around Australia, they provide diagnostic and rehabilitative treatment and cutting-edge advice for the general public and industry professionals about Hearing loss and prevention.

Find your nearest store using their  STORE LOCATOR and head on in for a FREE HEARING TEST today. It won’t take long to complete (about 5 minutes) and no appointment is necessary! Your results will be printed off at the end of the test and reviewed ON THE SPOT. No waiting, no guessing. Just a straightforward answer there and then!

If the results indicate a hearing loss you can make an appointment to see one of their clinicians for a comprehensive hearing test. NB – Bay Audio does not test children.

Still not sure, why not take their FREE ONLINE HEARING TEST – it’s over in a few minutes and really easy to complete.

The team at Bay Audio are giving one lucky reader a $1000 Coles Myer Gift Card simply by participating in their “Life’s Changing Moments” giveaway.

Simply LIKE their page and comment on the Facebook post below and in 25 words or less share your life changing moment, and you could be the lucky winner! Perfect prize for everyone (it’s just like cash!!) and just in time for Christmas, so don’t delay – get your entries in today!