Sponsored by Hearing Australia
Katie Cunningham
Chris Pappas remembers the moment he knew it was time to address his hearing loss. The 55-year-old IT executive was in the kitchen one morning when his teenage son, Michael, walked in and announced something that Chris couldnβt quite make out.
βI said, βI didnβt hear you. What was that?β Michael lost his temper and marched off,β Chris recalls. βI mean, the stress it puts on friends, family and work colleaguesβ you donβt realise.β
Chris had first noticed his hearing declining in his late 40s, which he believed might have been related to an early career in the army where he was regularly around loud gun blasts. That, and his past life enjoying the nightclubs of Melbourne. βIβm Gen Xβwe used to stand in front of the speakers!β
But as a βtypical middle-aged maleβ well-versed in brushing medical matters aside, it took yearsβand a lot of pestering from his loved onesβfor him to do anything about it.
βMy wife had been begging me to get my hearing checked for a few years before I did,β Chris says. βWhen I look back now, I should have done it six or seven years ago when I noticed there were some things I wasnβt hearing any more, and situations I was struggling in.β
Those situations happened at work as well as at home. Chris remembers another moment two years ago at a conference where a woman approached him to introduce herself and he βsimply couldnβt hear a word she said, apart from βhelloβ and βnice to meet youβ.β βI went and got my hearing tested about a week later, and just havenβt looked back,β he says.
Finding the courage to ask for help
Wanting to go with the countryβs most trusted hearing services provider as voted by Readerβs Digest readers, Chris booked in with Hearing Australia for a free 15-minute hearing check. He concedes that as a former military man and footy captain, it took some guts to ask for help. But the team at Hearing Australia nurtured him through the process and even loaned him a pair of hearing aids to take home for a free two-week trial. That sealed the deal: βYouβre like, as if Iβm handing these back.β
Chris was pleasantly surprised to learn how different todayβs hearing aid technology is to that of decadesβ past.
βWe think back to the big, ugly, cream-coloured things hanging off the backs of your school friendsβ ears in the 80s and 90s. Today, theyβre anything but,β he says. Not only can they be very discreet, but modern hearing aids can also come with enviable tech features.
βThe ones I got have AI built into them. Thereβs an app on your phone so you can easily make changes to your volume if you want. If youβre in the bush, and you want to hear the birds, thereβs a setting for that. If you go to a concert, thereβs a setting for music. If you just want them to be noise-cancelling, thereβs a setting for that. Itβs amazingβ.
A life-changing impact
The change his hearing aids offered was immediate and obvious.
βIβll never forget the day I got them. I got into my car to go home and heard a squeak. When I got home, I said to my wife, βHow longβs that bloody squeak been there?β She said, βItβs been there since you bought it!β Itβs the old story of you donβt know what youβve lost until you get it back.β
But the most impactful changes came in his relationships with friends, family and himself.
Chris feels more confident entering noisy rooms, knowing he wonβt have to lean in uncomfortably close to hear people speak. And there is no question that hearing aids have strengthened his connection with his loved ones, including the most important relationship of all: that with his son, Michael.
Investing in your hearing, Chris feels, is a way of βinvesting in everyone around you as wellβ. He can see now how frustrating it must have been for his family to have to constantly repeat themselves to him.
For Chris, taking charge of his hearing has been βabsolutely life-changingβ. Thatβs why he encourages anyone who is struggling with their hearing to take the first step and get their hearing checked. The initial appointment with Hearing Australia is obligation-free, so βif that means you go home and ponder it for a month or two, then so be it,β he says. βBut your hearingβs not going to get betterβ.
βIβve got so many of my male friends in trouble at dinner parties because I tell my story, and their wives glare at them and tell them to get their hearing checked,β he laughs. βThey say, βChris has done it. If Chris can do it, you can do it!ββ
Concerned about your hearing? Book a free 15-minute adult hearing check with Hearing AustraliaβAustraliaβs most trusted hearing services provider since 2021, as voted by Readerβs Digest readers. Call 134 432 or book online at hearing.com.au/bookings.
Only 15-minute adult hearing checks are free. Other services may attract charges/fees or may be subsidised for those eligible under the Australian Government Hearing Services Program, to which conditions apply. A hearing check is a screening that helps identify people that may have hearing loss.