How A $99 Hearing Aid Saved My Dad From Depression And Possibly Dementia
My Mom died unexpectedly last year.
One day she was my happy and loving Mom, the next day she was gone.
A heart attack got her while she was getting groceries out of her car.
Boom. Gone from our lives completely.
I was devastated. I can't even tell you the damage that does to a family. We’d always been close, and it just tore us apart…
… and it affected my dad in a way I just couldn’t have predicted.
He just kind of faded into the background.
I stopped hearing from him as much. He’d never call me, it would always be me calling him…
… and the phone calls were always tough, like he was in a hurry to get off the phone.
I know his heart was broken… but he was so distant. He just seemed lost.
My husband and I tried to involve him in family situations. We’d have him over at weekends so he could see our kids, invite him for dinner a few times a week, things like that.
But it was hard to get through to him.
When we did have him over, he would just sort of sit there, and not interact. Staring into the distance. He didn’t take part in many conversations… he was a shell of himself.
Eventually, I took him to see a specialist. He protested but I insisted…
… and I’m glad I did, because what I learned just floored me.
And it’ll probably frighten you quite a bit if you have an older relative.
The Specialist Told Me That Due To His Hearing Loss, My Dad Was At Severe Risk From Dementia And “Early Death”
They’d given my dad a full run of tests and they’d found his hearing was fading very quickly.
Him and my mom had been those older people that always communicated in loud voices and constantly repeat themselves…
… and without my mom in his life, it was just hard for him to hear anything. Hard for him to participate in life.
So all those family moments where he’d been super quiet…
… he just couldn’t really hear the conversation or understand what was happening.
And he was too proud and set in his ways to tell people he was struggling.
All those phone calls where he was short with me or didn’t say much… it was the same thing, he just couldn’t hear very well and was afraid to say so, so he would cut it short.
Isn’t that heartbreaking?
And That’s Why Seniors Losing Their Hearing Are At Risk
The doctor told me something EVERYBODY should know about their older parents.
When an older person loses their hearing, it’s like fast forwarding their aging.
In scientific studies, they’ve found that once a person’s hearing drops past a certain level, their brain ages 30-40% faster.
This means that if they’re already older, they’re going to decline VERY quickly.
Even worse, they’re also 24% more likely to quickly develop dementia and Alzheimer's and things like that.
And worse still… they are much much MUCH more likely to suffer from depression and “loss of life quality”...
… and that means they’re not going to live as long.
Why Does Risk Of Alzheimers & Dementia Increase As Hearing Fades?
There are two main reasons…
… and they’re closely tied together.
The first one is that us humans are very social creatures.
We live together and marry for life and stay close with our families for a reason. It’s literally necessary for our mental health and well-being… for our survival in fact.
The second reason is that losing your hearing suddenly creates a huge wall that blocks you from everybody else in your life. It leads to immediate loneliness and isolation.
Like my dad, sitting there at the dining table. Technically, he’s there with us…
… but he can’t hear a word of the conversation. He can’t really speak to us because he can’t hear what we say back to him. It’s like he’s not actually a part of the family at all. Like he’s watching us all on TV.
When your relatives lose their hearing it’s like they’re living life behind glass… like an animal in a zoo, and they can’t talk to the people they love any more.
Bottom Line: Once Hearing Fades, The Clock Is Ticking On Dementia, Depression, And Much Worse
So I asked the doctor what we could do.
How could we keep my dad in the loop and make sure he knew he was still a part of our family and he was still loved and important to us? How could we stop him sliding into dementia and depression?
The answer was two simple words: Hearing Aids.
I’d always thought that hearing aids were an old fashioned invention that barely worked.
I remembered my grandma having them when I was a kid. They didn’t seem to be helpful at all.
In fact she’d often complain about feedback and unexpected sounds…
… and I even remember her having to take them off to hear me better!
The specialist we spoke to assured me they’d come a long way over the years.
Unfortunately, I quickly found that hearing aids are VERY expensive.
In fact I was blown away by the price.
It’s pretty common to pay $3000-$5000, even from discount stores like Costco and Sam’s Club.
My dad didn't have great insurance, so we’d have to pay out of pocket.
And honestly we didn’t have a spare 3 thousand dollars plus just sitting around. We have 3 kids and we’re basically living paycheck to paycheck like everybody else!
Thankfully, when I did a deeper dive into the research, I found that one of the best hearing aids out there is currently available for less than a hundred bucks!
Seriously - $99 For The Kind Of Hearing Aid That Usually Costs $3,000+!!!
These are not those big beige monstrosities that go behind your ears. Technology has changed.
In fact, some of the modern ones can fit right inside your ear so people don’t even know you’re wearing them.
And even better, they have a sound quality and battery life that’s far superior to that old technology.
After extensive research, the best brand I found is named Oricle.
I first found them in an online ad…
… and what really caught my attention was what their customers said in the reviews.
People were saying things like this: