“I Can Go Places Again” - Warren’s HoughAid Story
Hearing loss doesn’t always announce itself all at once.
Sometimes, it changes life in smaller ways. A conversation becomes harder to follow. A restaurant becomes less enjoyable. Time with the people you love takes a little more effort than it used to.
For Warren Sloat, some of the hardest moments were in restaurants and with his grandchildren. When hearing became difficult, so did staying connected to the conversations happening around him.
Eventually, it began affecting more than what Warren could hear. It affected where he felt comfortable going.
“It lets me go places I couldn’t before because I was embarrassed to keep asking folks to repeat themselves over and over,”
Warren said of the difference his hearing aids have made.
When Hearing Help Feels Out of Reach
Warren knew hearing aids could make a difference, but like many people living with hearing loss, cost was a significant barrier.
When we asked Warren why he believes programs like HoughAid are important, his answer was immediate.
“Oh my goodness, yes. I could no way afford to hear like this without the Hough Institute.”
Through HoughAid, Warren was able to receive the hearing help he needed without facing a cost he simply could not manage on his own.
And once he began wearing his hearing aids, he discovered just how much he had been missing.
Including, apparently, the true volume of his television.
“I realize now just how loud my TV was before!”
he said.
It’s a funny realization, but it also says something important about hearing loss. We adapt. We turn up the television. We ask people to repeat themselves. We avoid the noisy room. We make little adjustments until they begin to feel normal.
Then, when better hearing becomes possible, we realize just how much those adjustments had changed our everyday lives.
More Than Hearing
For Warren, the biggest change isn’t simply that sounds are clearer. It’s that he feels more comfortable participating in life again.
He can go places without worrying that he’ll spend the entire time asking people to repeat themselves. He can better enjoy the people around him, including the grandchildren who were once especially difficult for him to hear.
That sense of connection is at the heart of HoughAid.
Hearing aids are small devices, but what they give back can be enormous: conversation, confidence, connection and the freedom to participate in moments that matter.
Warren summed up his HoughAid experience much more simply:
“👀❤️ Hough!”
We love you right back, Warren.
About HoughAid
HoughAid, a program of Hough Ear Institute, helps income-qualified adults access hearing care and hearing aids that might otherwise be financially out of reach.
For Warren, that meant more than hearing his television at a much more reasonable volume.
It meant feeling comfortable going places again.
And sometimes, that is what better hearing really sounds like.
Learn More About HoughAid
HoughAid serves qualifying Oklahoma adults age 19 and older with household incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Eligible participants receive clinical-grade hearing aids and audiology services at no cost.
Learn more about eligibility and apply for HoughAid through Hough Ear Institute.