Deafness is a common chronic disease in the elderly, but the age of onset varies, starting as early as after 40 years of age, while most of it occurs after 50-60 years of age. The hearing loss in elderly deaf patients mostly starts at high frequencies and then gradually expands to the lower frequency range. He often first cannot hear sounds unrelated to his work and daily life, such as squeaky insects (high frequency sounds), and then gradually he cannot hear words. For whispered speech, he needs to hold his hand behind his ear to listen, but still he cannot hear clearly; and when others raise their voices, he finds them noisy and disrespectful. This kind of elderly person likes to talk with familiar people with little difficulty, but when talking with strangers, he will answer hesitantly or even answer inappropriate questions. When talking with individuals, they can barely cope with the conversation, but when talking in a group, they seem to understand, and have more difficulties in noisy environments. If you have such a deaf patient at home, it is recommended that young people try to choose a quiet environment when talking to them, face-to-face communication, the elderly see your facial expressions and body movements, it will speed up his perception and understanding of speech; if in a noisy place, you should talk to the elderly at close range, and the speed of speech should be slow, the tone of voice can be slightly raised, try to choose the elderly familiar topics, so that communication will make the elderly more comfortable. Since deafness is caused by the degeneration of the auditory organs, although the degeneration process varies from person to person, it will not stop for life. Some factors such as genetics, environmental noise, blood changes and vascular reactions, diet and nutrition, living conditions, chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes, etc.), and mental stress can also advance, accelerate and influence the aging process. Therefore, we can only start from the three aspects of “prevention, treatment and help” to minimize some relevant stimulating factors and delay the occurrence and development of deafness in old age. Prevention: Prevention can be done in the following aspects: ①Improve the living or working environment to reduce or eliminate noise. ②Eating less high-fat food as much as possible, eating more fiber-containing vegetables and fruits as well as fish and beef and mutton with more protein; walnut meat, sesame seeds, peanuts, white nuts, pine nut meat, deep-sea fish oil, etc., which have the function of tonifying the kidney and strengthening the brain, opening the body and benefiting the brain, can be chosen to eat more. ③ Quit bad habits, especially smoking and drinking alcohol, to keep the respiratory tract healthy and delay the aging process. ④ Actively treat related diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, rheumatism, etc.; remove latent lesions in the body, such as dental caries, purulent sinusitis, etc.; do not use or cautiously use ototoxic drugs. ⑤ Be open-minded, combine work and rest, do sports appropriately, and avoid mental tension and emotional excitement. Cure: There is no special medicine yet, some vitamins, energy combination, vasodilator, Chinese herbal medicine can be applied appropriately to nourish the nerves and improve the circulation, but it does not mean that the more drugs are used and the longer the time, the better the effect; and there is no need to carry out the so-called preventive medicine for hearing before the appearance of deafness in old age. Whether to take medication and what medication to take, this should be done under the guidance of an otologist. Help: Use some necessary aids such as hearing aids to help the elderly improve their communication skills and quality of life. Although the fitting of hearing aids for the elderly is the same as for other hearing impaired people, and must be matched by a professional doctor according to the nature and degree of hearing loss, there are still things that children can do: First, learn to coax the elderly to accept hearing aids. Some elderly people are reluctant to accept hearing aids because of their fear of trouble, fear of being laughed at, and the fact that better hearing aids cost several thousand dollars or more. Therefore, family members should cooperate with doctors to do a good job in the elderly’s thinking. Only when the elderly understand and feel that hearing aids can really help them to communicate, they will gladly accept them. In addition, the doctor will also make the elderly understand that the hearing after wearing hearing aids is still a bit different from the hearing when the hearing is normal, for example, there will be some background noise, and the quality of hearing sound will be affected by the direction and environment. Wearing hearing aids cannot slow down the further development of deafness, so neither the elderly nor their children should have high expectations of hearing aids. Second, choose the right hearing aid. Since senile deafness is sensorineural deafness, hearing aids for this type of deafness have higher requirements for sound compression and amplification. Generally speaking, if conditions allow, it is recommended to help the elderly to choose hearing aids that use electronic digital technology. This is because, these types of good quality hearing aids can reduce noise and improve comfort. Also, if the elderly person is older or has poor coordination, it is important to be careful when choosing a hearing aid that is too small (e.g., canal hearing aid). The reason for this is that although canal hearing aids are small and can be placed in the ear canal so that others do not easily notice them and they are beautiful to wear, the volume and other adjustment buttons on these hearing aids are too small, making it difficult for some elderly people to use them. Thirdly, maintenance hearing aids. Some elderly people are a little less adaptable to new things, especially to some high-tech electronic products. Therefore, as a child, you should read the hearing aid manual first, show more care and attention to the elderly at the early stage of using the hearing aid, ask about the wearing situation and the effect, guide and help the elderly to do a good job of hearing aid maintenance, and correct the incorrect use of the hearing aid in a timely manner. As long as the elderly develop good habits, the service life of hearing aids can reach 5~10 years.
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