CLEVELAND — Football games blaring, the kids will be playing, everyone is catching up, and what's the chance you or someone you love will be missing most of the conversation because it's difficult to hear?
With extended family time this holiday season, it's an ideal opportunity to discuss hearing concerns with loved ones.
"I always tell patients, 'There's no pass or fail, no good or bad. It's just what you're hearing is, and then what will we do about it?'" explains Dr. Jessica Bonezzi, Cleveland Clinic clinical audiologist.
The signs of hearing loss can be subtle, and I discovered that on my own. I've been fronting bands since my teenage years and have always been around pretty loud rock music. I shared with Bonezzi my reason for getting my ears checked.
"I play in a couple of bands pretty much every weekend, and I'm noticing that I have to turn the television up louder, and I'm starting to ask people to repeat themselves," I told her.
While over-the-counter hearing aids are available, Bonezzi emphasizes the importance of professional evaluation.
"They aren't going to be prescriptive, amplifying based off of your hearing aid," she said. "They're essentially turning up the volume, but the prescriptive hearing aids will definitely provide more of a personalized listening experience."
The stakes are higher than just missing conversations.
"New research is coming out with correlations from untreated hearing loss to cognitive decline," Bonezzi noted. "Patients will isolate themselves because it's not enjoyable to have conversations in groups."
Studies from Johns Hopkins Medicine confirm links between untreated hearing loss and increased risks of dementia, depression, and anxiety.
"You know, there's a lot of things in life like our other systemic medical conditions where we have pretty limited control," Bonezzi concluded. "This is something that we have quite a bit of control over and can treat it."
This Thanksgiving, starting a conversation about hearing health could be the greatest gift of all: the gift of better communication and connection for years to come.