Doc says it’s not the Rock Concerts I went to as a teen, it’s not the ton’s of airplane flights I’ve been on, it’s not the loud music in the car, it’s not anything I’ve done… it’s just genetic. Makes sense… my Aunts and Uncles have all lost their hearing - but they were much older than me when they noticed. I didn’t really notice… my family did. It took them 2 years to convince me that there was a problem. Yeah… so I can’t hear the oven timer, I’ve never been able to rely on that. Even in my early 20’s I preferred a timer that hung around my neck to remind me I was cooking. I did notice that on my nifty phone, I had the volume set on the highest possible setting, that just seemed to be a cool feature. I always turned the TV up louder when I came to watch. My husband would ask if I could turn it down, annoying…. how will I hear the dialog. But no… I’m not losing my hearing. Then I finally went to have the ears tested. Let’s just prove to these people once and for all - put this idea to bed - my ears are fine.
I went into the little sound proof room. Raise your hand as soon as you hear something. Left ear, right ear, front and back. Now listen to these words and repeat back. Some of the words didn’t make sense, but that’s probably just part of the test. Looking good, I don’t think I missed anything, the rhythm of the test seemed steady. Except for the parts where she was adjusting things.
Then the lady comes in and says - “Well… I could fit you for hearing aids today if you would like.” I lost my breathe. I said…” what??? But I did so well? ” She says, “You heard everything you could.”
I started to tear up. Then she said, “When do you have problems hearing?” I said - well… just in loud restaurants or at church or when people whisper… (like at the temple) - but it’s not that big of a problem.”
She said - “Think about it, sounds like you need time to adjust to the news, but whenever you are ready - hearing aids will help.
Off to my car I went, with a goal to grow out my hair past my ears. A year later, with long hair - I went to Costco to be fitted with hearing aids. I was 45 years old. So basically somewhere around 40 I started to lose my hearing. The friendly guy at the Aloha Costco tested me again and put some percentages on my loss which were not encouraging. He said I was missing some higher frequencies and missed the hard consonants - like T, P and K ’s etc.. which seems really weird, but that’s why the word test seems foreign in spots, cause I’m missing the beginning of the words. So I got hearing aids.
I don’t wear them all the time. I found out the world is much noisier than I had thought. I thought our neighborhood was amazingly quiet. Not so… I thought my cats had the oddest meows. Turns out I was just missing many of the pitches, so it was a little broken up. I would probably get used to them if I wore them all the time, but they do tire me out. It’s all too much to hear, after a large sabbatical.
They are great in restaurants. I can block out the background noise and I can probably hear better than most people in noisy places now. I didn’t go cheap - my hearing aids have many settings. I still like to have the words on the bottom of the screen for reading dialog during movies. Did you know that the actors don’t always say what’s scripted? I also like the description of horse neighing etc…
I realized that I had been guessing what people were saying for a long time before I came to grips with my loss. Sometimes… “That’s fun.” is the wrong response to someones comment. Like if they say… “my father passed away.” and you think they are telling you about their fathers last vacation… it just doesn’t work to guess. I’ve had people tell me that when they first met me they thought I was rude, snobby, or aloof. No, just in my own little zone and can’t hear you or have stopped trying to hear, cause it was frustrating.
So maybe I didn’t cause my own hearing loss. But what if I didn’t help the situation… what if my kids who are predisposed to the genetic condition listen to their Ipods for more than an hour a day at a higher setting than recommended. Will they start to go deaf before they are 40? Our relatives live until their 90’s on both sides of the family… That’s a LONG time to not hear without a battery operated device. Glad I have the option, but keeping your ears safe and well is the better route.
http://www.betterhearing.org/hearing_loss_prevention/?gclid=CJTP2onh0ZQCFR4vagodrXQ-kQ
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