Having trouble hearing? Get it checked

My stubbornness had gotten in the way. It wasn’t until a colleague told me she had been talking to me and that I had not heard her that I knew I needed to address my hearing.  

I had not been sleeping well due to tinnitus and I had noticed it was hard to hear people in group settings. However, I just put up with it.

Once my colleague pointed it out, I sought support from Veterans’ Affairs, saw an audiologist, and realised that I needed hearing aids.

They made a big difference. The tinnitus has disappeared, I can hear people better, and I can hear myself talking. I don’t have to wear them all the time, but they are great for when I am talking to large groups of people.

I know my situation is not uncommon. I served 31 years in the Regular Force of the New Zealand Army, including operational deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan, and was exposed to a lot of military noise. There are many, like me, who have been deployed on operations and who may have hearing issues.

Brett Te Wheoro standing with Afghani children, 2007

If you have qualifying service and believe that your hearing loss or tinnitus is related to your qualifying service, Veterans’ Affairs will likely be able to help you.

If your hearing loss is accepted as a service-related, Veterans’ Affairs will fund you to see an audiologist and for the hearing aids. If it is stopping you from working, you might be eligible for Weekly Income Compensation.

I work at Veterans’ Affairs and I engage with serving and ex-serving veterans and their families and whānau, and I see in those veterans the same stubbornness that I had. Once I let that go, I was in a much better place.

I’m keen to encourage others to reach out to me or Veterans’ Affairs staff to understand more about the what support that they might be entitled to and how to access it.

More information can be found at here.