It’s Valentine’s Day, that time of year everyone’s talking about love. You have a great relationship with your spouse, but if you’ve been having some problems, you may be hoping that Valentine’s Day can help you rekindle the magic. If you’ve been struggling to hear, you know that living with hearing loss can be a big annoyance. You often don’t understand what’s been said, you’ve stopped talking on the phone because you can never hear, and the TV always sounds too quiet. While you might think hearing loss is only about your ears, did you know that hearing loss may also be affecting your marriage?
Hearing Loss Isn’t Just About Your Ears
Hearing loss isn’t just about your ears – in fact, it affects every aspect of your life, including your marriage. A happy marriage is built on all the small shared moments, whether it’s enjoying a morning cup of coffee, walking the dog, or chatting with your kids. When you’re struggling to hear, all the little things become stressful rather than enjoyable. Instead of sharing a quiet conversation over breakfast, you end up in a shouting match trying to decide what to have for dinner, and this leaves both you and your spouse frustrated and upset.
When Communication Breaks Down
If you’re trying to share something important with your loved one but they keep interrupting and asking you to repeat yourself, it’s easy to lose your train of thought and get frustrated. This is a common problem for those living with hearing loss, as their family and friends get tired of having to repeat themselves over and over again, and still not feel like they’ve been heard or understood. This puts a huge strain on relationships and leads to a serious breakdown in communication. The lack of communication leads to serious problems in intimacy between you and your spouse, and as your hearing deteriorates, you’ll find yourself communicating less and less, only driving a deeper wedge between you and your loved one. When it becomes easier not to say anything at all, you know you have a serious problem.
You Can’t Communicate If You Can’t Hear
Feeling heard and understood is the key to healthy communication. Healthy relationships, whether with friends, family, or your spouse, is built on communication. Think about it. Whatever you’re doing, whether it’s going out for dinner with friends, watching TV with your grandkids, chatting with coworkers in the breakroom, or spending a quiet evening at home with your spouse, being able to hear is a basic building block of relationships.
Living with untreated hearing loss means you’ll lose the ability to easily communicate and build connections. You’ll find yourself straining to hear and irritated when you can’t make out all the words. Even when you can hear, your brain is working so hard just to make out the sounds that often the meaning of what’s being said is lost.
Damaging Relationships
Not being able to communicate with your spouse is damaging to your relationship. You’re both desperate to understand each other, but when you just can’t understand what your loved one is saying, it can lead to a feeling of anger and resentment that has far reaching consequences. You ask your spouse to repeat themselves all the time, but sometimes you’re embarrassed to admit that even after hearing it three times you still don’t understand what’s been said, so you just let it go and suffer from another miscommunication. If trying to communicate, whether about little things or about the most important parts of life, leaves you feeling frustrated and unsatisfied, soon both you and your spouse will feel isolated and alone, leaving your marriage in jeopardy.
This Valentine’s Day, it’s time to prove to your spouse how much you care and get a hearing test. It’s time to start communicating easily again and get back to sharing all the little moments that matter so much. Visit us at Desert Valley Audiology for a hearing assessment. We won’t give you any marriage advice, but we can tell you that getting fitted with our leading hearing aids will make huge difference in making both you and your spouse feel heard and feel connected. Get a hearing aid and make your marriage strong again.