My father is really against using his hearing aids, and I'm having a hard time grasping why he dislikes them so intensely

Mental Clarity & Brain Health
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To give some background, which might be helpful: my dad is 62 years old, with significant hearing impairment in his right ear and a mild to moderate loss in the left. He’s lived with this condition since he was a young adult, meaning he’s been hard of hearing for the bulk of his life, yet he still won’t use his hearing aids.

I’ve tried talking to him many times about his aversion to them, but he just says things like “it doesn’t sound natural,” “it feels like everything is in stereo,” or “it’s not how real life sounds.” Whenever I try to dig deeper, he repeats the same points, and we just end up going in circles.

I’m reaching out to see if others in the deaf or hard-of-hearing community feel the same way and can help me understand his perspective. It’s becoming incredibly difficult to communicate with him since he won’t use the aids or learn sign language, and I’m honestly at my limit.

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Hearing aids can be a real hassle. I have a very conflicted relationship with mine. They feel artificial and can be physically painful or overwhelming in certain settings. In loud places like restaurants, they’re often practically useless.

I really feel for your dad. I’ve dealt with progressive hearing loss for a long time, struggling with specific frequencies and speech. Some voices are just harder to process than others. Even with my hearing loss, I used to be able to tell where a sound was coming from, but with the aids, I lose that sense of direction entirely. It’s very disorienting and stressful.

They can also sound very metallic and shrill. They tend to amplify the loudest noise in the room, meaning the quiet voices of your family often get drowned out by everything else.