You Might Be an Audiologist If ...

I was asked by ReSound if I would be willing to share this post of theirs with my readers. I found it amusing and said yes right away. I hope you will enjoy this lighter moment with me today. You may want to pass it along to your hearing care professional and make their day too.

You Might Be an Audiologist If ...

• Every time you tell someone your profession, they say “huh?” or “what?”
• You have a random copy of hearing aid software in the trunk of your car.
• You have alcohol swabs hidden in every pencil case and otoscope bag you own.
• Ears are the first thing you look at on a person.
• You cringe when someone mentions using Q-tips in their ears.
• When you’re drunk and feel like the world is spinning, you grab someone and ask them to look at your eyes to see if you have nystagmus*.
• You bust out your sound level meter app….. in church.
• You have ever used the term “externship”*.
• People ask you if you’ve seen the light on the other side
• You’re not grossed out by cerumen*.
• You have an urge to push an elderly person’s earmolds in properly when you’re standing behind them at the supermarket checkout.
• In public places, you try guessing what kind of BTE a person is wearing like you’re on a game show.
• You have a pair of ety plugs* on your keychain.
• You look at what type of earphones people are using at the gym as they walk by you.

*Not being an audiologist myself, I needed to look up a few of these terms. Here are explanations for
Nystagamus
Externships
Cerumen means earwax.
Ety plugs are earplugs.


Here are some more responses from ReSound's Facebook community shared with me via email:

• You find battery stickers all over everything you own, and especially on the bottom of your shoes and in your hair.
• You give your card to the guy in the car next to you with his speakers blasting and tell him to call you in a few years.
• You can't help but look at other people's ears in a crowd to see what types of hearing aids you can identify from a distance.
• You find yourself talking loudly for no reason.

Did you enjoy that? Can anyone come up with some answers for You Might Be Hard of Hearing If...

My Hearing Loss, My Self Image: A New Start

Today I had my fitting for the pair of hearing aids I will receive as part of the Oticon Focus on People Award. My previous audiologist doesn't work with Oticon aids, so I went somewhere new. It was nice to have a fresh start. While reviewing my medical history with my new audiologist, I surprised myself by just how much I've learned in the five years since my hearing loss was diagnosed. I could accurately describe my past audiogram results using the palm of my hand as a "chart" and could pepper our conversation with lingo like the speech banana, T4/M4, T-coil, and sensorineural. Impressed much?

When we discussed when my hearing loss might have begun, I shared that I didn't know for sure. I can remember feeling extremely fatigued in college. Could it have been from all the listening required? I distinctly remember one English writing seminar where a professor used a video for one of our classes and a light bulb went off in my head. I immediately grasped the concept. I've often wondered if I'm a visual learner due to my hearing loss.

Looking even farther back, I wonder if I had normal hearing as a child or not. I don't know for certain because I never had a childhood hearing test. Of course, none of my teachers ever indicated there was a problem. But since I'm nearsighted and have worn glasses since I was 9 years old, I was usually seated in the front row of the classroom. Maybe I was the shy, quiet girl because of my hearing or maybe that was, and is, just me. Hard to say.

My husband used to puzzle over how quiet I become in group situations. I could chatter on comfortably one on one, but if there were three people or more present, I was rendered speechless.  Now we've realized that my difficulty in following group conversation puts me at a disadvantage. When I'm lagging a few beats behind everyone else, it's hard to contribute the appropriate response that moves a conversation forward. To this day, I prefer spending social time with my friends one-on-one as much as possible.

At the audiologist's today, I took the usual battery of diagnostic tests. I hate to admit it, but there was a part of me that secretly hoped she would say that my hearing is normal. That my previous diagnosis had all been a mistake. But no, that didn't happen. Instead she said that the conduction test proved that nothing medically could be done for my hearing and that hearing aids were my only option. She said that technology had improved in the last five years and I might be much more satisfied with the way my new aids would sound. But I would continue to struggle with hearing in noise because my hearing is impaired. My audiogram came out just like all the others.

Even after five years time, I still struggle to accept my situation. At work recently I have been reassigned from my shifts at the information desk. When I told the audiologist that, she said that was a good idea in my situation. So now I have to re-imagine myself as a virtual librarian offering help electronically rather than face-to-face. I have to accept that when I'm interacting with hearing people, conversation is harder for me. I'm going to be the quiet one.

I hope with my new aids, I will come to an acceptance of who I am now and who I always may have been. In the spirit of I. King Jordan's famous words,  I can do anything except hear perfectly and it's time I get over that and move forward. I'm looking forward to living better with Oticon. I get my new aids next week.

Hearing Aids Maintenance or How I Bug My Audiologist

Today I visited my audiologist for a maintenance appointment. Usually I wait until one of the ear pieces on the end of the eartube has broken before scheduling an appointment. But this time, nearly eight months has passed with everything intact and I thought I'd better check in. I also wanted to discuss my program settings with her.

As always, I came into the office full of questions. My first one was, "How often should I be coming in for eartube replacement?" I had in the back of my mind that this needed to happen about every six months. My audiologist corrected me on this saying for my hearing aid if nothing is broken, then it's a matter of personal preference. Some people don't come in, others come in every six months. Apparently the good advice she gave me at my last appointment about cleaning my earpieces with alcohol free baby wipes has extended their life. Before it seemed as though I was getting replacements every 4-6 months.

Next, I discussed my program settings with her. I told her that I've been running my hearing aids almost exclusively on my second program - the noise reduction one. I also told her that I've been wearing my assistive listening device more and more. She looked over my charts and the graphs of my current settings. Her recommendation was changing my first program so that it is identical to the second program in noise reduction and speech enhancement. Then she boosted the volume setting a bit on the first program but not so much that I would be startled by the increase in volume. She suggested giving this a try and then letting her know my experience with these settings. Reassuringly, she was very open to the possibility of future adjustments if needed.

Then I brought up some other questions that have been bugging me for a long time due to a previous mishap involving heat and water. Do I need to take my hearing aids out if there's a light misting of rain or if it's sprinkling? I pointed out that I do have long hair which covers my hearing aids. She told me that hearing aids are laboratory tested for these conditions and that I don't need to remove them. I tested her with a follow up question. What about when cooking in the kitchen and I'm boiling water for pasta and there's a lot of steam? Patiently she replied that even in that case it was okay to keep my aids in. Putting them in a dry and store at night helps. When I mentioned that to be safe I had always taken my aids out in these situations, she replied she wished everyone were cautious with their hearing aids but I didn't need to be quite so careful.

Time for my final question. I told her I belonged to a local hearing loss support group and asked if it would be okay to send her some flyers for our next meeting. She was delighted. She said she would set up a special display for them there and in the other office in a nearby town. I ended my appointment on a positive note.

As today she only had in stock an eartube for my left aid and needed to order an eartube for my right, she reminded me as I was leaving that she would contact me when the part had arrived. Goody, I thought, this worrywart will have time to come up with even more questions.

Does your audiologist answer your questions to your satisfaction?