Healthy Colorado: Tips for navigating hearing loss during the holidays

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo (KRDO) -- About 48 million Americans struggle with hearing loss. When you're hosting that party or spending time with friends and family, it's important to remember that someone around you will likely have trouble hearing.

When you get a group of people together, add in some cooking noise, and TV or music, chances are someone won't hear as well as they should. Statistically speaking, half of grandparents and great-grandparents have significant hearing loss. So does about one in 10 parents, aunts and uncles, or adult friends aged 55 to 64, according to HearUSA.

Hearing loss can be a real hindrance to enjoying the holidays when all we want to do is connect with the people we love.

"People with untreated hearing loss, that can be particularly difficult for them," says Ariel Kavanagh, a hearing instruments specialist with HearUSA. "If you are living with that, situations with that background noise, holiday music, background chatter, group settings and children playing, that can all override the clarity of speech for someone who is in that situation and they want to be able to socialize with their friends and family."

Giving the host a heads-up is also an easy and effective way to make sure there is a quiet space for you to feel included if the volume is going up around you. It's similar to telling someone you have a food allergy. Make this known so that way people around you can offer the best support possible.