The Challenges of Hearing Loss & Dementia
Imagine for a moment the frustration of not being able to hear properly and also not being able to fully understand what’s going on around you. It would feel overwhelming to many of us. After all, we depend so much on our five senses, including hearing, to communicate about simple matters and to interact socially. However, for many seniors, being hard of hearing is a daily reality, and for those who are affected by both hearing loss as well as dementia, the challenges are even greater and the feelings of frustration can be even more acute. To reach past these barriers, caregivers sometimes need to get a bit creative!
One day, at a seniors’ care home where I was working, I was walking past the dining room area when I saw a resident (‘Anne’) who was struggling with the staff in her attempt to get into the dining room. The staff were following rules that at this time of the day, no one was supposed to be in that area. As the struggle intensified, it appeared to me that the staff were not communicating effectively with Anne because they felt she wouldn’t understand because of her dementia. Anne has symptoms of dementia, and she also has severe hearing impairment. I remembered that once when I’d said to Anne “Come with me,” she had responded with “What tea? I already had a cup of tea!” I knew that unless the staff spoke loudly enough, or in her ear, she would simply be unable to hear and thus understand.
My knowledge of Anne helped me decide on my approach to help out. I happened to have a clipboard in hand and wrote in large letters on the paper, “Dining room now closed for cleaning and will be opened in 1 hour”. Immediately, Anne’s expression of distress changed as she concentrated on reading what I’d wrote. She peered carefully at the paper, read each word out loud, and finally exclaimed “Ohhh! I see!” As soon as I heard those three words, I smiled, because I knew that she now understood the message that previously she couldn’t hear. Anne then moved her wheelchair outside the dining room door and appeared at ease with waiting.
This story has always been a reminder to me that just because someone may have dementia on top of a sensory impairment, it shouldn’t mean we give up on communication. Anne had problems hearing, so I relied on her sense of sight instead. As the story exemplifies, at the end of the day, we as caregivers communicating with someone with dementia need to use effective and creative communication techniques to get our message across.
