My 87-year-old dad is a doctor and knows that he is deaf but refuses hearing aids. How do I convince him to wear them?

At is age, it's going to be hard to get used to hearing aids, so I'm afraid it's an uphill battle. Since he's a doctor, he knows better. He's known for a long time he needs them, but vanity/ego stopped him.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Could someone outside of the family clue him into how much he is missing - and let him know that he is adding to his risk for dementia if he doesn't do what he can for his hearing? We need all of our senses to stay sharp if our minds are to continue hanging on. He is sharp now, so he'll want to stay that way.
Good luck,
Carol

Hearing deficits occur at various ranges of sound. For my father, it's in a range in which women generally speak - softer voices. It's easier to understand men with baritone voices. That might the issue your father faces.

There's also the issue that I've seen with VA hearing aids; my father has trouble removing them. It made me uncomfortable to see him struggling to get them out of his ears. That might be a deterrent as well.

And then there's the issue of the ambient noise - suddenly what used to be silence is now a range of noises, some of which are annoying and irritating.

I am totally deaf and have been that way since I was three. It's a misconception that you have to hear in order to drive safely. I am now 61 and have been driving since I was 19 and have an excellent driving record. We use our eyes. Also you don't need all 5 senses to stay sharp in mind. Anyway, lots of people who have hearing loss due to old age are embarrassed to wear hearing aids which I think is unfortunate, but that's the way they are. Make sure your dad doesn't want it because of his choice, not because he's embarrassed. If he just isn't interested in wearing one, not much you can do. Hearing aids don't help every one with hearing loss. It depends. I used to wear them when I was younger, but now I don't because my hearing range is now very low.

I use to think with my Mother that it was vanity that kept her from wearing her hearing aids, and at first that was part of it, but I think Carol is right when she mentioned at his age it may be hard getting use to them. My mom likes her quiet world, she says everything is too loud with them in. She use to wear just wear one in the ear closest to where I'd sit next to her, so you may have him try that. Now I just talk her into wearing them when we go to the doctor so she can answer his questions. With her dementia, she doesn't remember how to put them on, adjust the volume or turn them off. Best Wishes!

I think that sometimes the hearing aid noise bothers, that is what my Dad always said. He said there was so much background noise. I would encourage him to try and understand how hard it is to feel like you are yelling at him. My Father always had to be looking at me to hear me... He read lips. I think it is hard when our loved ones cannot hear us. take care, J

My sister and I bought our 87 year old Dad hearing aids. The first week he wore them they fell out; once while he was golfing (he found them in the parking lot) and once while he was at his exercise class (he found them on the ground next to him). They were adjusted to fit better but now he won't wear them to golf or to exercise, when I call him he can't hear me very well because he doesn't have his hearing aids in (but he thinks he can hear just fine). Any suggestions? Maybe contact the audiologist to follow up with him?

JEM- follow up with the Audiologist or Hearing Specialist. No matter what the style of hearing aid, it should not fall out of your father's ears with proper use. It will take gentle encouragement for your father to use them. The most important time is when he is with you... Let him know that you want him to understand what you say-- not just hear. There is a big difference between understanding and hearing. Then, put a little bit of love in there. Because you want to be able to have him understand that you love him.

See if you can't get him on here to read some of the threads about hearing aids. And I'd be glad to correspond with him privately. I'm a physican and hearing aid user, and when they work they are great. The first trial I had was a dismal failure - they were not open fit, he did not bother to look up how to use them with a stethoscope, and I had a headache in less than one minute of putting them in. Then the guy had the nerve to imply that I wasn't "motivated!" Then I had a hard time getting my second audiologist to understand that I needed a slightly non-standard adjustment, with no amplification of my normal low frequencies, and didn't care about "tinny" if I could understand soft speech better. There is a lot to consider in getting hearing aids wearable from a user point of view. I absolutely did not think I could avoid losing my aids if I had to take them in and out to use a stethoscope, hence the open fit or the special adapter for the stethoscope is a necessity. If I get worse enough, will have to go to receiver-in-canal. In a quiet area with a person with a lower pithced voice I'm good, esepcially if I am face to face even though my conscious lipreading is not really very good. Getting other people to do what they can for you is not easy; they need to know that hearing aids do not give you normal hearing and they will need to repeat or even spell occasionally if they are soft-spoken, plus you really may not hear them from behind you or from across a room. They need to know you are not insulted by a touch on the arm to get your attention instead, and that you are aware you have a hearing problem and that deaf is not stupid. (Of course that means you can't be yelling at them for "mumbling!" (don't be like my Mom was!!)

My dad is 80 and got very nice Hearing Aides about 3 years ago. He refuses to wear them and claims one hurts his left ear. So I have suggested we go to the Audiologist and see if they can adjust them for him. He still refuses. We are all having to yell at him and have multiple conversations with him. It's odd however, that we will ask him something and he will say Huh? and then before we can repeat the question again he will have answered us, and he hears many things when they aren't directed at him. I cannot quite understand it? Any advice.

My father simply can't be bothered to wear his hearing aids. He keeps saying it doesn't occur to him to put them in, in the morning. He is very slapdash with lots of things in his life, tablets, paperwork, dress, everything tbh!

He complains all day that he can't hear the TV, but when I ask if he's got his HAs in, he just says it nothing to do with that.

He shouts all the time, shouts ont the phone, shouts while teh TVs on, shouts while talking int he street.

I've told him I can hear him from the foot of my garden when he's speaking to ppl, but that I can't hear them.Nothing I say seems to have any effect. He just thinks I'm talking nonsense.

Driving me insane. He's been living with me for four months while M&D househunt. Reaching the end of my tether :o/

No-one else says anything because they're too polite, which only adds to his belief that I'm making it all up :o/

Aaaagh.......