Whenever we lose someone or something in life, we will all quiet naturally go through a mental process which is clinically known as the four stages of grief, or ‘THE GRIEVING PROCESS’. These stages which we go through are namely;
1. Numbness- (where a person is literally numb in their mind to what has happened).
2. Denial- (where a person will not accept the event or situation, even to the point that they will look elsewhere for blame).
3. Despair- (the point that a person accepts what has happened but is lost as to what to do).
4. Action - (the point in the grieving process when a client accepts the problems and they then looks for a positive way forward).
Even today a lady, (unaware of how bad her hearing loss actually was), came into see me with her daughter. As always I like to very quickly ascertain at which stage of the grieving process the client is at, so that I can act accordingly in the best interests of the client. As I said as I always say in the early stages of a consultation;
“People who generally book a hearing test can be pigeon holed ( horrible turn of phrase) into one of four different categories according to their needs”.
1. Those who are having a free hearing test as a precaution.
2. Those who have been advised by family members or friends to seek advice.
3. Those who know there is a problem but aren’t sure what or whether they need to do something.
4. Those who have been prescribed a solution either by the N.H.S. or privately but are not happy with the results.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
It may seem a direct or even a curt question that is asked of them but it is best to ask this question in order that the the best quality of advice and service is given in order to satisfy their needs on the day.
Knowing where a client is in the grieving process is vital to administering that best advice and service at that time; otherwise those clients will have had a wasted journey and that person and their family or friends will have been failed.
Their family and friends will have said on many occasion “I think you should really have your hearing checked” but as we grow older we try to cling onto our faculties no matter how much they diminish.
Like a man losing his hair, he will brush it over, sometimes to the extreme in order that they don’t have to accept the inevitable. If we are fearful of dentists, we might wait until the pain is so bad before we action the remedy.
However with a hearing loss there is no pain, only isolation and a loss of confidence through fear of ridicule to the point of blaming others or admitting wrongly that they are daft and not deaf, when it should be the other way round.
To them the solution is an admittance of old age. Their feelings or thoughts are not uncommon but a part of the process they more often endure before a solution is administered.
Understanding of the problems and fears that people with a hearing loss encounter is paramount for a good dispenser to help to move their client forwards to a point of acting positively. Empathy and not sympathy is required during a consultation. “It’s not your fault Mrs. Jones but a natural process of the thoughts you have during the journey you are on”, might be what they need to hear from a caring dispenser.
So back to the “consultation” and there are good reasons for the questions that we ask as a standard of the job that we do. I will not go through these on this occasion so as not to distract from the message of this story.
Once a hearing aid dispenser has carried out a case history and audiometry, they should be able to ascertain the extent of the problems and the disabilities the client is encountering and how best to deal with those problems. However even at this time the dispenser needs to in some cases, take the client on a journey from denial to acceptance of not just the problem but also the possible solutions.
How best do we do that, when quite often the client’s mind there is no problem?
THE DEMONSTRATION
Once a dispenser has tested the client’s hearing, he or she will have their own opinion of the product or range of products that will best do the job. This is where the contention may lie for those inside and outside the industry because unfortunately the cost can vary so much from company to company. Although the prices can vary, so to can be the competence and the quality of how the job is done.
Many hearing aid dispensers choose to what is called concept selling, where the solution is sold but the products are NOT demonstrated. In truth this is a shortcut that many dispensers choose wrongly.
I have even been told by dispensers that the reason they don’t want to demonstrate in case it goes wrong and the client loses confidence. To my mind if there is to be a problem, I would want to know as soon as possible in order to know best how to deal with that problem.
If the fitting goes wrong then the client WILL lose confidence and might pospone doing anything positive for years.
