Family Hearing and Balance Center on the true meaning of hearing loss – LIVING WELL Magazine

The True Meaning of Hearing Loss

Courtesy Family Hearing and Balance Center, Akron LIVING WELL Magazine

When we open our eyes in the morning, we rarely think about what causes that experience. We may jump right into the day’s plans, or we may be a morning person who has to drag ourselves into consciousness. We all see our world in different and very personal ways, but we rarely look at causes. When we turn the key to start our cars, we rarely think about how it happens, but we expect that it will. When we push the send button on our cell phones, few of us can explain how it happens, but we expect our call to go through.

Understanding that the world happens with or without our conscious effort begs the question: When we see, what is truly seeing? When we hear, what is truly hearing? When we see a stop sign, we see a shape, possibly the color red, and some letters. In the question of truly seeing, is the person putting all of those clues together able to understand their meaning? The reason that stop signs are not just a color prompt, i.e. “red means stop,” is because some people are color blind, and they will not see red. So, the sign has an octagon shape presented as another communication clue, it also add to the meaning if one cannot read the word STOP. The meaning behind the stop sign now becomes the most important means to avoid a disastrous end.

At Family Hearing and Balance Center, we have a different view on that meaning. When one is experiencing hearing loss, the question is not, “how loud?” but “is one understanding?” Does one understand the world when they are in a loud room? Can they hear the spiritual lessons when they are sitting in their preferred place of worship? How is one doing when they talk on the phone? To truly experience the joys of living, hearing is deeper than just a device that makes the world louder. Any audiologist will find the technology to amplify the hearing loss, but our audiologists will dig deeper to find out what is important to the person doing the hearing.

A basic audiogram, which is on our website: www.familyhearingbalancecenter.com, explains the cause and the physical mechanics of what is happening, but does not address the true meaning of hearing.  Our office addresses and looks at how hearing loss equates to a work loss, or a family dynamic loss. Is hearing affecting the tinnitus and is balance involved? What is going to make things better, and what is the right thing to do? We would like to share a blog post from www.hearinglossohio.com speaking to doing the right thing.

How can we become better? By doing the “Right Thing.”

How can we become better? This is very good question to ask ourselves throughout our lives. Does becoming better involve us or others? This morning, I am answering this question in my relationship with others. As an audiologist, I am becoming ever more interested to learning what is important to others, and what may help each person to acquire a better quality of life. In this goal, I view myself as a person that assists others to improve their life. Can I listen more to learn more? Can I remember what is important so that I can relate this as important to me as well? Will I place myself secondary to another person’s needs? Am I doing what I am doing for the right reasons?

I recall this past week what my son who is 6 1/2 said to me after finding a frog. He said, “I better let you go,” to the frog. He was by himself and as I overheard this chatter to his frog. He then said, “Because, it’s the right thing to do…”
This was so powerful to me! He knew, that by releasing this small frog to the yard, allowing it to find his family and find its home, and by being free, it was the “right thing to do.”


Each day we awake with decisions of ”doing the right thing.” In that striving, I enjoy my work, and being a part of people’s quality of life journey.