AudiologyOnline Phone: 800-753-2160


Oticon Work - September 2024

When Your Patient's Grown Children are Pushing for Hearing Aids

Donald J. Schum, PhD

November 2, 2009

Share:

Question

How do you deal with patients who don't want hearing aids, but their adult children want you to fit them with hearing aids anyway?

Answer

Remember that your patient is the older person, not the children. Your job as an audiologist is not to make the grown children happy, but to clinically treat the person with hearing loss. If the children are helping that process by bringing the parent on appointments or motivating the parent to come for a hearing test in general, that's great. However, as a clinician, fitting someone with hearing aids who does not want them, does not usually lead to a successful user of hearing instruments and can create further problems such as noncompliance, resentment and conflict in the family.

As a clinician, the disconnect between the agenda of your patient and the agenda of the patient's children is a good indication that you are going to need to stop and figure out what is going on in the mindset of your patient. Maybe that person really doesn't feel he or she is having communication problems. For a person to be motivated to get hearing aids, the person has to feel that they are really having problems. They need to feel that there is symptom severity, that they are really running into situations where they are having difficulty hearing. More often, though, the person with hearing loss is just not ready or does not want to deal with the hearing problem, rather than they don't recognize it. Use the children's perceptions as a point of discussion in your counseling and be ready to take the necessary time to move the patient through the hearing aid process.

This Ask the Expert was taken from the recorded course entitled "Motivating the Older Patient to Take Action" that is part of a six part series of live, recorded and text based courses on the Human Side of the Fitting Process. View the complete course here: www.audiologyonline.com/ceus/recordedcoursedetails.asp?class_id=13126
Visit the AudiologyOnline library for other recorded courses in this series: Managing Patient Expectations and Customizing Advanced Technology Fittings and the accompanying articles to all recorded courses. Look for upcoming live courses in this series - Special Fitting Considerations, the Fine Tuning Process, and the Follow-up Process - that will be presented on 9/11/09, 10/30/09 and 12/4/09. Further details can be found in the AudiologyOnline course listings.

Don Schum currently serves as Vice President for Audiology & Professional Relations for Oticon, Inc. Previous to his position at Oticon in Somerset, Don served as the Director of Audiology for the main Oticon office in Copenhagen Denmark. In addition, he served as the Director of the Hearing Aid Lab at the University of Iowa School of Medicine (1990-1995) and as an Assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina (1988-1990). During his professional career, Dr. Schum has been an active researcher in the areas of Hearing Aids, Speech Understanding, and Outcome Measures. ( B.S. in Speech & Hearing Science, University of Illinois;M.A. in Audiology, University of Iowa;Ph.D. in Audiology, Louisiana State University.)


donald j schum

Donald J. Schum, PhD

Vice President of Audiology and Professional Relations, Oticon

Don Schum currently serves as Vice President for Audiology & Professional Relations for Oticon, Inc. Previous to his position at Oticon in Somerset, Don served as the Director of Audiology for the main Oticon office in Copenhagen Denmark. In addition, he served as the Director of the Hearing Aid Lab at the University of Iowa, School of Medicine (1990-1995) and as an Assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina (1988-1990). During his professional career, Dr. Schum has been an active researcher in the areas of Hearing Aids, Speech Understanding, and Outcome Measures. (B.S. in Speech & Hearing Science, University of Illinois M.A. in Audiology, University of Iowa Ph.D. in Audiology, Louisiana State University.)


Related Courses

Counseling Techniques Supporting Standard of Care
Presented by Amanda Greenwell, AuD
Recorded Webinar
Oticon

Presenter

Amanda Greenwell, AuD
Course: #38697Level: Intermediate1 Hour
  'teacher was upbeat and enthusiastic'   Read Reviews
Effective counseling practices make a tremendous difference in hearing healthcare. Being able to communicate the benefits of advanced technology in simple language patients can understand is the key element in this process. This course will provide suggestions for consumer-friendly language based on clear benefits when making a strong recommendation for premium technology as the standard of care.

View this Course for FREE.
Need CEUs? Become a AudiologyOnline member to get unlimited CEUs.

Only $129/yr

Learn More

Improving Patient Outcomes Through Person-Centered Care: An Introduction to Inspired by Ida
Presented by Helle Gjønnes Møller, Carol Clifford, AuD, Anne Rankin Cannon, AuD, Kali Markle, AuD
Recorded Webinar
Oticon

Presenters

Helle Gjønnes MøllerCarol Clifford, AuDAnne Rankin Cannon, AuDKali Markle, AuD
Course: #36967Level: Introductory1 Hour
  'informational approach'   Read Reviews
Evidence shows that person-centered care (PCC) not only improves outcomes, it can also yield efficiency savings through more personalized treatment plans and by helping people to better manage their own conditions.
This webinar outlines the fundamental principles of PCC and presents some of the key benefits. It introduces attendees to Inspired by Ida – a program established to help hearing care professionals implement PCC in their everyday practice, and includes concrete examples, shared by existing Inspired by Ida members, Carol L. Clifford from Albuquerque Hearing & Balance, Anne Rankin Cannon from Hearing Doctors of Georgia, and Kali Markle from the Utah State University Hearing and Balance Clinic.

View this Course for FREE.
Need CEUs? Become a AudiologyOnline member to get unlimited CEUs.

Only $129/yr

Learn More

Taking The Step Towards Better Hearing
Presented by Amanda Greenwell, AuD
Recorded Webinar
Oticon

Presenter

Amanda Greenwell, AuD
Course: #37013Level: Intermediate1 Hour
  'New concepts and ideas are always helpful'   Read Reviews
Communicating the benefits of advanced technology and making a strong recommendation is an important step in the counseling process. Information shared as a result equips the patient to take the next step in their hearing healthcare. This course will share suggestions for consumer-friendly language to support the professional in recommending Oticon More as the standard of care for their hearing solution.

View this Course for FREE.
Need CEUs? Become a AudiologyOnline member to get unlimited CEUs.

Only $129/yr

Learn More

A Deeper Look at Sound Environments
Presented by Don Schum, PhD
Recorded Webinar
Oticon

Presenter

Don Schum, PhD
Course: #33536Level: Intermediate1 Hour
  'Very well articulated'   Read Reviews
The characteristics of the sound environment have a fundamental impact on the performance of the hearing aid user. In this course, we will describe the obvious and sometimes more subtle aspects of sound environments that will affect hearing aid performance.

View this Course for FREE.
Need CEUs? Become a AudiologyOnline member to get unlimited CEUs.

Only $129/yr

Learn More

The Subjective Evaluation of a New Hearing Aid Fitting
Presented by Don Schum, PhD
Recorded Webinar
Oticon

Presenter

Don Schum, PhD
Course: #35584Level: Intermediate1 Hour
  'Very informative and pragmatic presentation regarding the importance of incorporating a subjective evaluation into the hearing aid fitting process'   Read Reviews
The final judge of the success of a new fitting will of course be the patient, and the criteria that they use may not always be in line with an objective audiological measure. This course will review some of the issues and options at play when having the patient weigh in on the value of the new devices.

View this Course for FREE.
Need CEUs? Become a AudiologyOnline member to get unlimited CEUs.

Only $129/yr

Learn More

Our site uses cookies to improve your experience. By using our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.