So here I am, getting fitted for a top of the line set of hearing aids, that will hopefully allow me to inconspiciously hear better, without shouting to the world look what I have on!!!!!
In today's market place there are lots of styles to choose from: ITC = In the Canal; ITE= In the Ear; BTE = Behind the Ear. Then there are the options: Analog or Digital, not to mention all of the additional features available on certain models. There are directional microphones to enable you to focus on the speaker in front of you and block out sounds from behind or vice versa. They also have different settings such as telephone settings, music settings, noise suppression settings and more. Some even come with bluetooth so you can hear the phone caller directly into your aide; it even allows you to listen to television that way. There are alot of good choices for active high functioning adults who still need to interact with the world on a day to day basis. I know for me, these options have made me more inclined to upgrade.
I admit I am somewhat vain, and though I have gradually begun admitting to hearing loss, I still don't want to be so obvious about it. I totally admire people who are not self-conscious - wish that was me LOL!!! But alas, it is not, at least for now, so I decided I didn't want a bulky hearing aid, I want something discrete - but powerful - after all I need to hear! And because in my case, one of my ears is as I put it my "dead" ear, I am forced to compensate by wearing a hearing aide on the other side as well. However, the good news is that not everyone has this type of hearing loss so many folks will be suited to the in the canal or in the ear hearing aide and those are pretty much invisible.
Regardless, you want to be able to hear and thats whats important. I recently met two handsome men with hearing loss - one of them refused to wear a hearing aide, seems it didn't go with his image of self, thus he was constantly mistaking what others said, to the point it created problems in his personal life and ultimately, affected his relationship to his partner. His partner was constantly suggesting he go for the aides, but he refused, vanity how fickle art thou????? The other man, was someone who impressed me with his ability to honestly share that of himself. I had an opportunity to mention my situation and he sought me out to tell me how grateful he was to his particular audiologist and how the hearing aides had saved him. He unlike the other, is still very much in a stable relationship with his partner. I can only imagine its because he can hear her, women like to be heard!!!
That's something I miss, being able to hear pretty much everything, but I am glad I live in a time where I can be helped by technology and the advances in product development, enabling me to pick up sound, when in the past I might not have been able to do so. Hearing loss, or any other "disability" can make us feel less than, but realizing it doesn't have to be so is half the battle, the other half is doing something about it.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Growing Sounds of Silence
How do we begin to realize that we don't quite hear the way we used to? How do we even acknowledge it to the point that we seek out medical advice? And finally, once having received the confirmation that indeed we are losing our hearing, how do we go from there to actually taking the steps to do something about it? Or do we even do something about it???
Perhaps not; instead if you are like me, you may find yourself going thru your own personal battle: denial; questioning the how, why and wherefore - where did this come from, how did it happen and why me? (as if somehow, this should not be happening to me!) We may experience avoidance; or attempt to compensate: I'll just raise the volume on the TV and/or the phone; we pretend it's not noticable to others and may refuse to admit it - as if people hadn't already noticed; and the worse of it is coming to terms with the fact that progressively our hearing declines more and more as time goes on.
Ultimately if we are not careful, we may find ourselves withdrawing from people, places and things! After all, how can one truly participate in a conversation when one doesn't hear half of it; or perhaps we mistakenly hear something and respond to what we thought we heard, only to be chided or mocked because we heard wrong! All of this may then force us to admit we have a problem, but no, we may say "it is not serious", or we may say, "it's just a slight hearing problem" and when it is suggested we get hearing aids to help.... HORROR!!! "What do you mean hearing aids" we may ask, there is no need for hearing aids; after all, what would that say about me ... NO, NO, NOT ME!!!
I never thought that I would one day experience hearing loss, and be forced to wear hearing aides. Like most folks, I was oblivious to the hazards of loud and continual exposure to noise, such as music. So much so, that while in my early 20's I got a job working as a DJ at a Disco. Wow, what an awesome opportunity, to work in a setting where I partied WOOO HOOO!!!
Part of the work was increasing the decibels of sound over what was called a "mix" to up the mood of the dancers! Needless to say it was challenging but at the time exhilarating! After several months of that, I found another position, where again and unfortunately, my ears were exposed to loud noise - this time on a construction site....
Again, who knew the long term effect..... Yet all of this became important, years later, when I started to realize that my hearing on my left ear was not quite what it used to be, and where I began my stages of denial, until I could deny it no longer; engaging in group conversations became highly difficult, listening to a class instructor worse, even personal conversations became more and more challenging. I finally got tested and diagnosed and in my particular case - surgery.
However, for the record, I know that for most folks, it could be something minor that triggers the hearing loss, it could be an infection, trauma, genetics, or in some minor cases, like me progressive. My plea to you is that if you have any concerns at all, or just want to know, ask your doctor about getting tested. Also, look for free health screenings in your community or from your local hearing aides specialist. Get tested, you will be glad you did and if you find you need hearing aides, the sooner you get them the better off you will be, because we humans have a tendancy to grow accustomed to things over time,so much so, that we may find ourselves getting accustomed to the "growing sounds of silence"!
Perhaps not; instead if you are like me, you may find yourself going thru your own personal battle: denial; questioning the how, why and wherefore - where did this come from, how did it happen and why me? (as if somehow, this should not be happening to me!) We may experience avoidance; or attempt to compensate: I'll just raise the volume on the TV and/or the phone; we pretend it's not noticable to others and may refuse to admit it - as if people hadn't already noticed; and the worse of it is coming to terms with the fact that progressively our hearing declines more and more as time goes on.
Ultimately if we are not careful, we may find ourselves withdrawing from people, places and things! After all, how can one truly participate in a conversation when one doesn't hear half of it; or perhaps we mistakenly hear something and respond to what we thought we heard, only to be chided or mocked because we heard wrong! All of this may then force us to admit we have a problem, but no, we may say "it is not serious", or we may say, "it's just a slight hearing problem" and when it is suggested we get hearing aids to help.... HORROR!!! "What do you mean hearing aids" we may ask, there is no need for hearing aids; after all, what would that say about me ... NO, NO, NOT ME!!!
I never thought that I would one day experience hearing loss, and be forced to wear hearing aides. Like most folks, I was oblivious to the hazards of loud and continual exposure to noise, such as music. So much so, that while in my early 20's I got a job working as a DJ at a Disco. Wow, what an awesome opportunity, to work in a setting where I partied WOOO HOOO!!!
Part of the work was increasing the decibels of sound over what was called a "mix" to up the mood of the dancers! Needless to say it was challenging but at the time exhilarating! After several months of that, I found another position, where again and unfortunately, my ears were exposed to loud noise - this time on a construction site....
Again, who knew the long term effect..... Yet all of this became important, years later, when I started to realize that my hearing on my left ear was not quite what it used to be, and where I began my stages of denial, until I could deny it no longer; engaging in group conversations became highly difficult, listening to a class instructor worse, even personal conversations became more and more challenging. I finally got tested and diagnosed and in my particular case - surgery.
However, for the record, I know that for most folks, it could be something minor that triggers the hearing loss, it could be an infection, trauma, genetics, or in some minor cases, like me progressive. My plea to you is that if you have any concerns at all, or just want to know, ask your doctor about getting tested. Also, look for free health screenings in your community or from your local hearing aides specialist. Get tested, you will be glad you did and if you find you need hearing aides, the sooner you get them the better off you will be, because we humans have a tendancy to grow accustomed to things over time,so much so, that we may find ourselves getting accustomed to the "growing sounds of silence"!
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