A natural part of the aging process is that our hearing worsens as we get older. The loss is so gradual that it may go unnoticed.

The person with the hearing loss and even the family members learn to adapt their behaviour without even realizing it. They speak louder, turn the TV volume up or repeat parts of the conversation. People start giving excuses to cover up the hearing loss, such as saying people mumble or don’t speak clearly.

People in general do not have much patience for the people that ask them to repeat things over and over. Most of us, by the third time, have become a little short with the person that has asked.

Although our short-term patience wears thin, our compassion and long-term endurancetakes over. Most of us have a great deal of endurance because we tolerate hearing loss in our loved ones for an average of 7 years before we finally convince them to get the help they need.