My mom has very poor hearing that keeps getting worse. She has many other health problems such as heart failure, mild dementia, and a bad back. Despite these health issues, she LOVES to talk. However, it is very hard to communicate with her because she cannot hear, unless you shout. This is very difficult when we have family over. She wants to be included in conversations and we want her to be included in them, but even when you shout, she still doesn't always hear if it is a group of people. When this happens she gets mad and cries. She thinks that we don't want to talk to her. This is very hard on me. However she will not wear hearing aids. I feel like if she did wear hearing aides, it would be much easier to talk to her and she would be much happier.
If it is vanity that is holding her back you might try pointing out that her deafness emphasises her age much more than hearing aids would.
If so, the problem might be comfort. Mine -- the behind-the-ear kind, with a tiny cone on a clear wire all that goes into the ear -- came with cones that were too big for me, uncomfortable when in and almost impossible to get placed correctly. My audiologist replaced them with cones from a different brand. I wear 'tiniest possible' in one ear and 'only one size bigger than that' in the other.
I also notice a problem with manual dexterity. When my hands are stiff or trembling I have trouble getting them in right, and changing those tiny batteries can be a nightmare.
If they're adjusted too loud - say, because my hand trembled when I tried to adjust with those tiny controls - they're intolerable. The solution to that turned out to be a device I can wear on my belt or around my neck that has bigger buttons.
Hearing aids, no matter how good, can be unbearable in noisy environments.
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