"Hearing loss very often is such a gradual phenomenon that the person is in denial. You really have to be patient with them in getting them to come forward to get help"
About this Quote
Ross's real target is the social choreography around disability. The line "you really have to be patient with them" shifts responsibility to the listener, the spouse, the friend, the adult child - anyone tempted to treat hearing aids as a simple fix and reluctance as stubbornness. The subtext is that shame is doing the talking. Hearing loss reads, culturally, as aging, and aging reads as reduced competence. So "come forward" lands like a confession, not a clinic appointment.
Context matters: Ross comes from an era when on-screen youthfulness was a kind of job security, especially for women. That makes her emphasis on gentleness feel earned, not aspirational. She's asking us to replace gotcha-style interventions with low-stakes invitations: make help feel like self-respect, not surrender.
Quote Details
| Topic | Health |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ross, Marion. (2026, January 16). Hearing loss very often is such a gradual phenomenon that the person is in denial. You really have to be patient with them in getting them to come forward to get help. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hearing-loss-very-often-is-such-a-gradual-93130/
Chicago Style
Ross, Marion. "Hearing loss very often is such a gradual phenomenon that the person is in denial. You really have to be patient with them in getting them to come forward to get help." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hearing-loss-very-often-is-such-a-gradual-93130/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Hearing loss very often is such a gradual phenomenon that the person is in denial. You really have to be patient with them in getting them to come forward to get help." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/hearing-loss-very-often-is-such-a-gradual-93130/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

