Wife says: “Honey, look at the beautiful moon.”

Husband hears: “I’d love to have a prune!”

Do you or a loved one suffer from hearing loss? If so, you are not alone! Approximately 17 percent of Americans report some degree of hearing loss according to the National Institutes of Health. It can be very frustrating for family members to communicate with a loved one who has hearing loss. Hearing aids can improve the lives of both the person who has the hearing loss as well as the friends and family that they interact with.

Spouses and family members are significantly and negatively impacted by their loved one’s hearing loss. The spouse can often experience feelings of loneliness, depression, anger, frustration, anxiety, impatience and irritability. It’s just not the hearing impaired person who suffers.

Previous reasons for resistance to hearing aids no longer exist with today’s technology. Even as recent as 15 years ago, hearing aids were big and “ugly,” whistled, and could not filter out the background noise. Technology has changed drastically in 15 years.

Hearing aids are smart in 2015. These are not your grandparent’s hearing aids. Hearing aids can be practically invisible. The sound quality is natural. Advances in technology have allowed a hearing aid to tell the difference between speech and background noise. They will work hard to only amplify the speech.

Hearing aids of today can stream the TV, home phone, cell phone, computer, all directly into your hearing aids. A hearing-impaired person can participate in conversation through any modality with a significant improvement, making everyone’s quality of life improved.

The most important decision when thinking about getting a hearing aid is choosing the best professional. It’s important to choose an experienced audiologist who will take the journey with you from identifying the problem to helping you select the most appropriate hearing device for your budget, hearing loss and lifestyle.

With invisible, natural sounding aids, there no reason to miss a word your grandkids are saying!

Manhattan Avenue Hearing Aids Inc. has three office locations; Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Lynbrook, L.I., and the West Village, Manhattan. Dr. Clare Villanueva has successfully fit hundreds of patients. She specializes in first time users and invisible hearing aids.