Wednesday, September 16, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Of a certain age
21
The high price of living out loud
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
In his 20s, Jack McGowan
had a dream job.
<I was an FM DJ for
Portland9s top rock station,=
he recalled.
He spent four hours each
day with headphones on,
cranking up the music now
considered <classic rock.=
He interviewed many of the
luminaries of the rock-and-
roll world and reveled in an
era of music whose breadth,
depth, and quality may never
be repeated.
But he paid a price.
<I think that was the ori-
gin of my hearing loss,= he
said.
He9s not alone. Many peo-
ple of his generation are liv-
ing with the consequences of
a youth spent at high volume
in every activity.
<When you9re doing that
as a young guy, you have no
thought for what it9s going to
be like when you9re 70,= he
said.
What it9s like is not
nearly as cool as rock and
roll. Hearing loss can mean
increasing social isolation,
frustration with yourself and
loved ones 4 and a dimin-
ished quality of life.
<The highs completely
rolled off in my hearing,=
McGowan recalled. <Crisp
sounds were no longer there;
it was like I had socks in my
ears.=
Conversation got more
and more challenging, espe-
cially in a crowded restaurant
or when the person speaking
wasn9t looking directly at
him.
<I9d have to say to Jan
(his wife), 8Would you turn
around and talk to me,9= he
said.
Finally, friends sat him
down and told him he clearly
needed to address his hearing
loss. They told him: <We
know your quality of life is
suffering.=
McGowan9s scenario
is one that Lanie Tandy of
All American Hearing in
Redmond sees over and over
again. Either through com-
placency, stubbornness or
fear of the expense of acting,
people choose to live with
hearing loss that has an obvi-
ous negative effect on their
lives.
She sees couples whose
relationship has become
strained because of constant
misunderstandings, or the
sense that your partner is not
listening to you. One partner
will repeat himself over and
over and end up shouting.
None of that is beneficial.
<For most types of hear-
ing loss, louder is not better,=
Tandy notes.
The problem isn9t volume;
as it was with McGowan, it9s
about the ability to distin-
guish sounds.
<It causes a tremendous
amount of frustration and
conflict,= Tandy said.
So often, she has heard
a patient say, <It9s not that I
don9t want to hear you.=
Hearing aids can provide
a life-changing improvement
to the deteriorating quality of
life associated with hearing
loss.
Tandy feels a calling to
encourage people to act as
early as possible when they
notice diminishment in their
hearing. Get tested; identify
exactly what is going on and
seek correction.
<No one is excited to
come in for their first set
of hearing aids,= Tandy
acknowledges.
Once they9ve done so,
though, Tandy hears a com-
mon refrain: <Almost every-
one says, 8I wish I9d known
sooner.9=
McGowan admits to some
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resistance to getting hearing
aids. It9s hard to acknowl-
edge diminished capacity. He
also recognizes that that out-
look is silly.
<Hearing aids are glasses
for your ears,= he said.
<That9s all it is. There should
be no embarrassment.=
Perceived cost is another
significant barrier for some
people who are convinced
that they just can9t afford
hearing aids.
<I never, ever want cost
to be the reason someone
doesn9t come in and get their
hearing addressed,= Tandy
told The Nugget. <We can
find a solution.=
Hearing aids can range
from quality refurbished
devices to state-of-the-
art <smart= units that have
onboard artificial intelligence
that can monitor your degree
of social interaction.
That social interaction is
more and more important as
we age and social isolation
becomes a bigger and bigger
issue. The longer a person
has retreated into the isola-
tion imposed by hearing loss,
the harder it is to come out.
<Isolation and social
disengagement is prob-
ably the biggest thing I see
my patients struggle with,=
Tandy said. <They9ll get
hearing aids, but they won9t
engage in social activity or
expose their ears to new lis-
tening environments. It9s
become such an issue in
hearing loss that (monitoring
of interaction) has actually
been incorporated into the
new technology.
<Aural rehab= becomes
part of the process of regain-
ing quality of life.
PHOTO PROVIDED
Jack McGowan spinning vinyl in Portland. Decades of rock and roll are
hard on the hearing.
<A big part of that is
involvement of the family,=
Tandy said. <Getting some-
one back into the world of
hearing is a family ordeal.=
Coming back into that
world of hearing is a beauti-
ful experience.
<I think it9s akin to watch-
ing a black and white TV,=
McGowan said. <All of a
sudden the black and white
TV turns into beautiful
color.=
The Sisters man is ada-
mant that getting hearing aids
is worth the effort and what-
ever expense is entailed.
<It changed my life,= he
said. <It really did.=