For many people, the best part of the Thanksgiving holiday is being with family and friends – chatting and laughing with loved ones over good food. But if you have Hearing loss, it can be a struggle to try and keep up with what’s being said. Fortunately, with a hearing aid from New Generation Hearing Centers, you can be part of the holiday conversation again. And that’s really something to be thankful for!

If you’ve had (or suspected you might have) Hearing Loss for a while now, you’re probably familiar with the feelings of isolation and even depression that can result when you’re not able to understand the everyday conversations you used to take part in easily. Holidays can be even more difficult for someone with untreated hearing loss, since they tend to be a noisy time at even the quietest households – the clinking of forks and spoons hitting dishes, the sound of kitchen appliances, the football game playing loudly from the living room television, multiple conversations being had at once. If you are trying to talk with someone in these conditions, all those sounds can end up competing with the sound of the other person’s voice, making it difficult to carry on a conversation. And sometimes, you’re too embarrassed to ask the other person to speak up or repeat themselves. The result is often loneliness and frustration.

There are things you can do to make Thanksgiving easier on yourself, like telling people ahead of time that you have hearing loss, reminding yourself to be patient, and requesting that background noise like television programs be kept down. But by far the best and most effective tool is having your hearing loss diagnosed and treated with a Digital Hearing Aid.

That’s right – I said digital hearing aid. Hearing aids have come a long way from the giant, chunky pieces of beige plastic you probably remember seeing over the years. Some new hearing aids are so small that no one would notice them without studying your ear closely. Others are designed to be stylish, so that you won’t mind if people see. And new digital technology means less problems that you may have heard about hearing aids having in the past, like feedback noise and volume adjustment problems. Many hearing aids adjust themselves according to the noise level of the room you’re in, and some can even reduce or eliminate background noise. Take that, pots and pans!

Thanksgiving is a holiday that is made for giving thanks for all the blessings in our lives. This Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful for the precious gift of hearing.