Hearing my grandchildren is priceless

Why young voices can be harder to hear

WHETHER it’s hearing a joke or a whisper that says ‘I love you’, understanding what our nearest and dearest are saying can make a huge difference to our well-being. It’s no surprise, then, that hearing loss can have a huge impact on families. Research for Amplifon, a global hearing specialist with more than 200 UK hearing centres, found that three out of five customers who came to them for help were finding it difficult to communicate with family and friends.

And more than half were struggling to understand what young children were saying.

Hearing loss can impact some sounds more than others and high frequency sounds – such as children’s voices – are often the first to be lost. It can be harder to catch consonants such as ‘s’, ‘f’ and ‘th’. Amplifon Cluster Manager Tazmeet Anand says: “It’s heartbreaking when people come in saying they can’t understand what their grandchildren are saying.

“Children tend to have higher pitched voices and speak quite quickly.

“A lot of customers will say, ‘I can’t make out what our granddaughter, or grandson is saying.’ It can be very upsetting.”

She adds: “Young children don’t understand hearing loss and can’t understand why a grandparent is ignoring them, or getting the wrong end of the stick, when they say something. It can be very distressing for everyone.” One in six people in the UK has some degree of hearing loss. However, because it occurs gradually, people often don’t realise they have a problem until family and friends point out how loud they have the television or how often they say “pardon”.

The key to finding the best solution is to identify the exact nature of the hearing loss, which is why so many people are opting for a thorough and free hearing test with Amplifon.

An audiologist will take your full medical history, ask about your lifestyle and hearing issues and complete a physical examination of your ears before taking you through a series of tests.

If they do discover a hearing loss, you’ll be offered a free trial of the latest state-of the-art digital hearing aids – ones that are best suited to your individual hearing needs.

Tazmeet says: “Hearing loss can be very individual. Every single person who comes through the door is different and has different needs.”

However, she adds: “Once somebody has a pair of hearing aids they will never ever want to give them back.

“There’s often a sense of, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I was missing so much.’

“We hear some lovely stories from people who have been struggling with hearing loss, often for a long time.

“When they realise what a difference the correct hearing aids can make they wonder why they have left it for so long.”