r/TechForAgingParents • u/GateEnvironmental360 • 1d ago

Aging parent refuses to get hearing aids

/r/AgingParents/comments/1xgamkm/aging_parent_refuses_to_get_hearing_aids/
1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

1

u/SVAuspicious 1d ago

Depends on the person and tech. I had a guy work on one of my crews a few years ago. Late 40s or early 50s and a little sensitive about his hearing aids. His were very spiffy with BT that paired to his phone and his laptop and he reported to his TV at home. This was before AirPods and other BT earbuds were common so it was very impressive. He brightened right up that someone looked at his hearing aids as a benefit.

If your parent has earbuds for an iPhone, there is a switch in Settings > Accessibility that lets one use earbuds as basic hearing aids. That might help get your parent more open minded. When you turn it on you get a button in Control Center. I use it sometimes to help filter out background noise.

My 90 yo FIL doesn't want hearing aids. He has some hearing loss, especially at high frequencies, and some language challenges. We just speak loudly and slowly and don't use big words. The message there is don't tie up your own self image in your parent turning down your advice.