Is it deafness

Ramblingrose

Registered User
Feb 2, 2020
84
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We noticed that Mum's hearing has deteriorated over the last year or so. She has been suffering with vascular dementia for at least 10 years now. We wonder is it deafness or lack of understanding. She has gradually become very confused in every aspect of her day. Obviously a trip to the GP has been out of the question.
 

Ramblingrose

Registered User
Feb 2, 2020
84
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Partly physical deafness, partly difficulty in processing the words. I think my husband can't connect the sounds of words to their meanings
Thanks. I thought it might be. Mum often can't find the correct words to use to describe things or explain herself. We find that having a conversation amongst family has become a challenge with Mum constantly interrupting. Wanting to know what we have said, or who we are talking about, trying to draw peoples attention to something going on outside for example which often turns out to be imaginary. She can't remember what has been said to her within a minute or two. Some days it wears you down.
 

Sarasa

Volunteer Host
Apr 13, 2018
7,194
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Nottinghamshire
Hi @Ramblingrose. For a long time I think my husband's family thought their mothers confusion was due to her increasing deafness. Certainly sometimes you could see she answered a question she thought she'd heard rather than what had actually been asked. Now though it is obvious that the main cause of the confusion is her vascular dementia.
About five or six years ago one of her daughters insisted she went to the audiology clinic and got hearing aids. She couldn't get on with them so I was called in to try and help. I'm severely deaf, so talked through how to get used to wearing aids etc etc. It didn't work as by then her brain wasn't capable of processing the new sounds she was hearing.
By all means get your mother's hearing checked out, but wearing hearing aids isn't like wearing glasses it can't totally correct hearing loss. When you first wear aids you need to work out what the sounds you are hearing are. I think it might be too late to make a difference, but if you know she has hearing problems you can do simple things such as make sure you are facing her when you talk. Talk slowly and clearly and don't shout. Shouting doesn't make you hear better, all it does is make it sound someone is being cross with you.
 

Ramblingrose

Registered User
Feb 2, 2020
84
0
Hi @Ramblingrose. For a long time I think my husband's family thought their mothers confusion was due to her increasing deafness. Certainly sometimes you could see she answered a question she thought she'd heard rather than what had actually been asked. Now though it is obvious that the main cause of the confusion is her vascular dementia.
About five or six years ago one of her daughters insisted she went to the audiology clinic and got hearing aids. She couldn't get on with them so I was called in to try and help. I'm severely deaf, so talked through how to get used to wearing aids etc etc. It didn't work as by then her brain wasn't capable of processing the new sounds she was hearing.
By all means get your mother's hearing checked out, but wearing hearing aids isn't like wearing glasses it can't totally correct hearing loss. When you first wear aids you need to work out what the sounds you are hearing are. I think it might be too late to make a difference, but if you know she has hearing problems you can do simple things such as make sure you are facing her when you talk. Talk slowly and clearly and don't shout. Shouting doesn't make you hear better, all it does is make it sound someone is being cross with you.
Thank you for your reply. I do try! Unfortunately her concentration span is minimal so she will look out of the window if something catches her eye or look at my dad and say "Are you listening"? By which time she has totally lost the thread. I don't think she would cope with a hearing aid either.
 

Lawson58

Registered User
Aug 1, 2014
4,332
0
Victoria, Australia
We noticed that Mum's hearing has deteriorated over the last year or so. She has been suffering with vascular dementia for at least 10 years now. We wonder is it deafness or lack of understanding. She has gradually become very confused in every aspect of her day. Obviously a trip to the GP has been out of the question.
When my husband started showing signs of dementia, I also wondered if he was becoming deaf so took him for a hearing test. Nothing was wrong with his hearing so I assumed that it was lack of concentration at the time. Now he is showing signs that he isn't processing language too well. He is also mumbling and stumbling over words but I think that is the progression of the AD.
 

margherita

Registered User
May 30, 2017
3,280
0
Italy, Milan and Acqui Terme
Thanks. I thought it might be. Mum often can't find the correct words to use to describe things or explain herself. We find that having a conversation amongst family has become a challenge with Mum constantly interrupting. Wanting to know what we have said, or who we are talking about, trying to draw peoples attention to something going on outside for example which often turns out to be imaginary. She can't remember what has been said to her within a minute or two. Some days it wears you down.
Yes, it is exasperating. It doesn't matter it isn't their fault, I feel like screaming most of the times. Too bad he wouldn't understand and accuse me of being out of my mind. ?
 

Weasell

Registered User
Oct 21, 2019
1,778
0
I think it is the inability to process the words with mum.

On occasion I turn the tv down and find the volume level will actually go no higher than the setting it is on.

One good test is to say ‘ would you like a cup of tea’? When there is no background sound.

Maybe that is why I hate the theme tunes for Tenable and The One Show, at that sound level it grates On your nerves.
 

Jaded'n'faded

Registered User
Jan 23, 2019
5,258
0
High Peak
I agree it is likely to be a processing problem. My mum started saying, 'Pardon? What did you say? to anything she was asked, yet it was clear she could hear OK. Conversation became increasingly diffficult. I found it helped a lot to cut everything down to short sentences and explain each part of what I was saying, e.g.
Instead of, 'It's going a bit grey, I think it's going to rain.' I would say, 'Oooh look!' Pause to make sure I had her attention. 'Look out the window!' whilst pointing at said window. 'Look at that huge dark cloud!' Pointing again. 'Do you think it's going to rain?'

It became the only way to communicate. If a carer came in while I was visiting and I had a conversation with them, mum would just tune out - it was clear she couldn't follow it.
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,747
0
Essex
Thank you for your reply. I do try! Unfortunately her concentration span is minimal so she will look out of the window if something catches her eye or look at my dad and say "Are you listening"? By which time she has totally lost the thread. I don't think she would cope with a hearing aid either.
Make sure that your mum can see your lips move as well. The dementia nurse put dad's deafness as hindering or causing his Alzheimers.

MaNaAk
 

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