I always joked that this is one of the advantages of being hearing impaired, but upon thinking about it, theres really no reason why people with hearing aids would not use this advantage…or at least pretend the batteries are dead.
I doubt very much there has been a lot of scientific study of this issue. Responses are probably going to anecdotal at best, so off to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
You obviously don’t have an interactive nagger who demands acknowledgement, like my wife.
My dad says his father used to do this. He (my grandfather) would get home from work and my grandmother would be going on and on about Eleanor Roosevelt (yes, it was the 30’s). So he’d listen for a while and then say “Ok, Helen, that’s enough” and would turn off his hearing aid.
My mother adjusts the volume on her hearing aid to block out unwanted noises that may be occurring. She’s really just adjusting sensitivity on distant sounds, as she can still hear things nearby to her okay, plus she doesn’t want to put herself at risk of missing an important sound, like a siren or a phone ringing.
My guess would be that by the time you reach that age, you’ve already long become accustomed to tuning it out without need of mechanical aid.
My dad is a god at finding diversions while my mom talks.
My great aunt’s husband does it to her all the time. She even acknowledges it. Last time I went to visit she was nagging and nagging from the kitchen and eventually he quit responding and she said, smiling, that he takes his hearing aid out when he gets tired of hearing it. Sure enough I went out to the living room and it was sitting on the end-table and he was reading a book.
Hell, I started doing this at Age 7-8 to my Mother!
Though the thing was she would just talk so loud that it didn’t work, I would still be able to hear parts of it without the HA. I realized in the long run, it’s just better to keep them on and tell her I could hear her just fine. But it was great as a kid to think I was being all sneaky.
So then it became just something I did when i wanted to read or have some “quiet time”, great for headaches, migraines and the like. I also loved that feature for during Exams and tests in school- I never had to worry about the annoying kid that tapped pencils or shuffled their papers while I took my exam. Of course, I also then missed out on if a teach would retract a question or tell the class the answer to one of the questions, so it wasn’t all happiness and rainbows. :smack:
T’was a pain to take out the batteries though, and some HA’s were so delicate I feared I’d break them if I did that too often.
Now my Digital ones have a button on them for “concerts, construction sites, other loud places feature” where if I push the button, it cuts the volume 50%. Which is quite easier to let me do the peace and quiet thing without missing out on valuable information, though it might require me to ask “what was that again?” with a quick stretch as I reactivate my HA’s… 
My father certainly used to do this from time to time.
What?
You’ll have to speak up, my hearing aid is off
My grandpa did that sometimes. Mostly he just ignored her, though. I guess she just fusses around to herself, now, which is sad to think about.
Dunno about the specific case of avoiding nagging, but my sister’s friend used to go to the cafe to study in college. It was one where you pay to get in, and then all the food is free. Since it was really loud, it wasn’t suitable for studying for most people, but this girl would simply take her hearing aids out and have all the food she wanted during her study sessions.
This almost makes me wish I were hard of hearing so I could turn sound off when I wanted to. (Not really, I know there must be many more problems created than solved). I’d turn my ears off at the gym if I could, and lots of other places, too. I hate loud noises, and have been blessed with very good hearing, mostly undamaged so far.
Ear plugs?
Tried that. Doesn’t work well enough. Ear plugs are sufficient to muffle the sound of my husband’s snores, but the too-loud music that many, nay most, people seem to want when they sweat comes right through.
[They Might Be Giants]
I’ve turned off my hearing aid - Don’t say the electric chair’s not good enough for King Lazy Bones like myself.
[/TMBG]
I don’t, although SWMBO teases me and says I do.
My brother dials his down whenever he wants some peace. Sometimes a handicap can be made to work to one’s advantage.
Just a joke, I swear:
(snerk) I plan to, asap.
Love, Phil
That is one of the few posts on SDMB that actually made me laugh out loud.