Peter Lindley My Story
The following story was written by Peter Lindley for the 8 June edition Deafness forum One in Six newsletter and is printed here with permission by Peter Lindley
My name is Peter Lindley. I am 78 years of age, and have had a profound hearing loss since I was seven, having lost my hearing as a complication of mumps at that time. This had a major impact on all aspects of my life.
I lived in an age when the pace of life was slower, following the end of the second World War, and at a time when technology as we know it today was still in its infancy. People then spoke more slowly than they do today, and their speech tended to be somewhat easier to decipher for someone who was hearing impaired and wore a hearing aid – though still requiring intense concentration.
This is not the case today, and with the advent of the technological age the rate of speech has become much faster, in line with the pace of life and the speed of change. In the area of hearing loss, that change in technology has been remarkable, with the advent of hearing aids which are far superior to the primitive hearing aid I used to wear. I now have a cochlear implant which provides me with a better level of sound than I had previously with a hearing aid.
However, neither aid nor implant enables me to clearly understand what I am hearing. I need people to be prepared to face me, speak clearly and not too quickly. Like many of my hearing impaired friends today, a request to speak clearly and not too rapidly, almost without exception, falls on 'deaf ears' – and becomes a daily experience outside of the home environment.
Let me give you an example. Recently, I have visited two different medical specialists. In such an environment it is imperative for me to understand what they are saying because my health and well being depends on it. On making the request, I received a blank look, as much as to say, “He has a cochlear implant – what is this all about.!” The result was that neither doctor made the slightest attempt to comply with my request. If my wife had not been present, I would have been none the wiser about the outcome of the consultations.
Most people with hearing loss cannot process spoken information at the same rate as a person with intact hearing – and almost all the hearing impaired people I have had contact with over the years, agree with my perceptions and experiences - which is why I want to support Deafness Forum in their campaign to have hearing loss classified as a National Health Priority. This includes the need for a National Hearing Health Campaign as a public awareness raising objective on television, in line with programs such as the cancer, diabetes, heart disease and the slip, slop slap campaign.
Over 4 million people who have a hearing loss are generally not recognised within the public consciousness as having a serious disability that impacts on almost every aspect of a person’s life. During my life as a hearing impaired person, I experienced the lack of understanding of the effect of my hearing loss, as the greatest single barrier towards effective communication. It has been my experience over time that nothing has changed.
I would like to quote from the Executive Summary of the 2010 “Hear Us” Senate Inquiry into hearing loss in Australia. I quote: “Australians with hearing loss must live with the paradox that their disability is so prevalent in our community and yet suffers from a generally low level of awareness and understanding.”
I spent almost all of my working life as an employee in a hospital and occasionally as a patient. Given that effective person to person communication is an essential component of good health care, and is also essential in other areas of life, it has always left me wondering as to why, awareness raising about the serious effects of hearing loss is not a priority in so many areas of public life.
I believe that much of the advertising on television and in the print media, contributes to the public misconception and gives the impression that all that is needed to correct a hearing loss is a hearing aid or a cochlear implant. That is not to decry the value of these technologies – they are an essential component of hearing health. But equally so, is the human factor in providing appropriate communication to fully supplement the benefits of the technology.
Failure to communicate effectively can lead to misunderstanding which can have frustrating consequences which can sometimes lead to serious or catastrophic outcomes. Having lived for 71 years as a hearing impaired person who has had to deal with the frustration and loss of control of my situation, through misunderstanding what people are saying, leading sometimes to serious consequences, I am convinced that public education about the true nature of hearing loss is an issue that needs to be addressed as a high priority.
I agree with and wholeheartedly support Deafness Forum's 6 point plan.
