Serene Karplus, Nederland.

When signs get blurry, we don’t blame the sign printer, we wear glasses or get surgery so we can see well. When our knees hurt, we support them with a brace or get surgery so we can walk well. Why is it, then, that fuzzy hearing doesn’t deserve the same attention?

We begin avoiding conversations and places where people gather. It is just too hard to read the lips of people unaware that we can’t hear them properly. We accuse them of mumbling. Admittedly, many are lazy with their diction and elocution, so such accusations are not always unfounded. We can’t always persuade others to enunciate their consonants or project their voices in a meeting room, no matter how many times we ask nicely for them to consider our disability, however minor.

Consequently, we become increasingly socially isolated, skipping meetings, movies, and dinner parties because we can’t understand speech as well as we once did. Certain we are not “hard of hearing” because we can still hear the house creak and the birds sing, so we chalk it up to other people’s poor communication skills or bad theater speaker systems.

After failing frequent tests by my sweetheart to hear the high pitched clicks of katydids in the trees, I succumbed to the free hearing tests at 9 Health Fair, and one at an audiologist’s office, that confirmed I have lost some high frequencies. These are the ones that help us discern consonants in speech. They are the ones we find hilarious in plays and movies when the characters mix up sounds and interpret messages incorrectly. We try to laugh with loved ones at our own errors in hearing, but it is less funny around unsympathetic strangers who just think we are daft.

A friend of mine had lost significant hearing around age 40 and a surgeon replaced the stapes bones in her ears damaged by otosclerosis. While some forms of hearing loss can be treated with surgery, the most common form of hearing loss that comes with age cannot be magically “fixed” in this way. We would not stumble around without our glasses, unable to recognize friends in the distance to wave hello. Yet we continue to stumble around in the audio world unable to communicate properly with them.

Today’s hearing devices are not just generic sound amplifiers. They are precise computers that are programmed to help us hear only in the pitches where we have trouble hearing, leaving the rest to be handled naturally by our own ears. They are small, sleek, and barely noticeable, not the old clunky things of years past!

Let’s overcome the automatic association some make between hearing loss and aging. Like eyesight, our hearing can shift at any age and for a multitude of reasons. Our failure to wear needed devices may make us appear more aged and confused than wearing them ever will.

Plenty of studies show that socialization is one of the key factors of a healthy long life. Why reduce our longevity or possibly our mental clarity because we don’t seek the tools we need? Several studies now link uncorrected hearing loss with dementia. If we want to stay sharp, we must pay attention to our hearing.

I recently learned about a new study at the University of Colorado, where they are studying brain changes in adults ages 40-70 years with normal hearing and suspected hearing loss. A free hearing test is included as part of the study. Adults identified with hearing loss may be eligible to try free hearing aids for up to a year, fit by a licensed audiologist. To learn more about this exciting study, contact Hannah Glick, Au.D., CCC-A at hannah.glick@colorado.edu or 303-492-7866.

All ages of adults are welcome at all events, attended mostly by folks over age 50. Sign up for all meals and events at 303-258-0799 or Meetup.com/Mountain-MidLife-Social-Group or by email at NederlandAreaSeniors@gmail.com. Meals are served at the Nederland Community Center. Please call two days ahead for lunch reservations (more for dinners and breakfasts if possible). Missed the deadline? Call anyway. Costs listed show first the over-age-60 requested anonymous contribution, then the under-age-60 price. Please note that all over age 60 are welcome at meals regardless of ability to contribute financially.