Language comprehension. Mom 95 is profoundly deaf. Recently having trouble understanding speech even with her good hearing aids.
She has newer hearing aids with TV streaming. We regularly have the tips replaced, ear wax removed every 3-4 months and she uses ear oil regularly. Just the last few months she has been having a lot of trouble understanding certain words, and whole sentences sometimes. I am trying to simplify words and speak really slowly but it still takes 2-3 tries to get through. Mostly she just ignores everyone so you have to get her attention if you really want an answer.
Question: could this be a part of the hearing loss or a sign of the dementia changing. And what big words can I use with the ENT doctor and hearing aid tech that she wont understand? (she hates when I ask questions on her behalf, although I have to do most of the talking!) I want to clue them in to what is going on.
My DH is VERY deaf and VERY vain and so getting him to buy & wear hearing aids was a huge challenge. He never wears them at home and only about 10% of the time he's not.
He misses about half of every conversation. I have to find him, make sure he's looking at me and then speak slowly and clearly, then ask a follow up question to make sure he 'gets it'. oh--because he refuses to wear his H/a's.
Nobody else in his life is as 'understanding' and so he misses a LOT.
Also, as he ages, he cares less about bothering to figure out what's being said. At 95, maybe your mom just doesn't care any more?
We do all that for DH--but there is a part of his particular kind of deafness that is not helped by aids. He is supposed to try reading lips a little and to also work at putting what's being said into context with the general conversation.
And, yes, this could absolutely be a part of increasing dementia. Dh doesn't have that, he just doesn't care.
I do often write things down and tell him it's a reminder for ME, but I'll see him sneaking a look at the list.
Believe me, the hearing aid techs have seen and heard it all--every excuse, every ounce of blame--they're not being snowed if mom is 'faking' it. And since they test the hearing they really do have a better understanding than anyone else.
And if she's having trouble understanding what's being said, I don't know if you have to be worried about what words to use with her Dr. as she probably won't understand what's being said anyway.
Best wishes in getting things figured out.
We recently had to change providers. The change was a plus because after years of wearing digitals, we found out why my husband has a hard time with them. He does better with analog that are no longer manufactured. With analog you hear a persons voice the way it sounds. With digital, its mechanical and the brain has to adjust to that. With digital its adjusted by computer. They only go so low and so high. If Moms hearing has worsened, she may need an adjustment. And by streaming do you mean blue tooth? Did her problem seem to occur since the new hearing aides?
My husband has a plus, he can read lips. Do you look at Mom when u talk to her? Does she have a head cold? This will interfer with the ability to hear.
It has been proven that those who are deaf will probably suffer from Dementia. Mom is 95 so there can also be some cognitive decline. My Mom always called it being heedless when someone didn't hear her. At this point though, maybe Mom just needs an adjustment. Maybe she is having trouble adjusting the volume.
"As Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias destroy brain cells, a significant symptom, known as “aphasia,” is losing the ability to speak and to understand speech. Aphasia worsens as the disease progresses. It becomes harder to remember the right words and process what others are saying."
The aphasia comes & goes with my mother; sometimes it's worse than others. I see it on her face when she looks very confused when I'm speaking. She can't follow along with a conversation that has more than a few words to it, either. So we try to keep the talk as simple as possible.
So use the word aphasia with the ENT doctor when speaking for your mom. And, if you don't speak loudly enough, she's not likely to hear what you're saying anyway, right?
Good luck!
Sometimes we have to turn on the TV the "close captioning" especially when someone is mumbling on TV or talking too fast. We found using the bright dark pink for the letters shows up much better than black lettering.
My Mom, when she was in her 90's, also had an issue with deafness even when using hearing aids. She would try so hard to catch just one word so she could join a conversation. I couldn't write down the words as she had macular degeneration so her eyesight was quite poor. Oh how I hated to shout words, especially when filling out forms in the doctor's waiting room.
To other people, who didn't know my Mom, but was starting up a conversation would think she had dementia, when in fact she was still sharp as a tack.
My Dad when it comes to a point where he can't hear, forget the hearing aids, buy him an old fashioned "ear trumpet".