September 20, 2006
At the doctor's office my ears, nose, and throat were examined and then an audiologist tested my hearing several different ways. I remember being tested with a tuning fork. That wasn't too bad. Then I went into a soundproof booth and had to listen to words and say out loud what had been said. Yikes - there were several possibilities in my mind - which one had been said? I wanted to answer it was either this or that.
The worst part of the testing came when tones were played and I had to push a button as soon as I heard them. At first the tones were heard easily but then it was harder to distinguish...had there been a new tone or were only echoes floating in the air? Should I push the button or not? I wasn't sure. Then the booth became completely quiet but the test wasn't over. My heart sank.
The audiologist was very kind when she went over my test results with me. I will be forever grateful to her for that. She explained that I had permanent hearing loss. My colds and allergies and stuffed up nose did not account for my being unable to hear the alarm.
She said I was a candidate for hearing aids. I was completely shocked! At my age how could this be possible, I wondered. But of course I wanted to hear. There was not going to be a time of thinking about it as she suggested. I placed my order that day.
4 comments:
Catching up on your first posts. Really interesting how quickly you have lost your hearing. Less then 4 years ago and so suddenly. Then hearing aids right away. That's got to be a tough adjustment. You hardly had time to let it absorb. I'll keep reading to see if you went through a grieving period.
Hi HOH Canadian,
I'm not sure how suddenly my hearing was lost - I think around 40 I just passed a threshold where it became problematic. Up til then I thought the way I heard was normal.
I don't think you'll find much about my grieving process in my early posts. I was very frightened of what the future held and I had some difficulties with unkind coworkers which I didn't feel comfortable writing about online. You may have to read between the lines a bit.
Just found your blog ~ I can't imagine how traumatic your adjustment period was for you. My story is a little different and can be found here:
http://hardofhearingmom.blogspot.com/
Just found your blog, and I imagine I'll be going through a lot of it as time allows! I'm an adult with a unilateral BTE and am a borderline candidate for an implant in the other ear. It looks as if we might be geographically close, so I'll be especially interested to read your blog for any local/state info. :)
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