Audiology and me.

[lendube]

Went to the audiologist today. I made an appt. to prove a point. Dh, because of his Parkinson's, has been starting to have more and more trouble enunciating. He has a gravely, low, soft voice anyway and I'm just constantly saying "Huh?" and "What?". As you can guess we both get tired of it and it leads to some irritations. About a month ago I made an appt. and didn't tell him. I don't have trouble understanding anyone else and just wanted it on paper that my hearing is fine.

I left this morning and when he asked what my plans were I told him I had a mammogram appt., etc. Figured I'd tell him what was up when I got home. Well, after the testing it was determined that I DO have a hearing loss. It's not terribly bad but she said it wouldn't be a whole lot more before hearing aides might help me!! I'm astounded. I don't consider myself hearing impaired at all! I don't have to ask others what they're saying. I don't turn the t.v. up loudly. (I asked dh and ds.) The dr. explained that there is a difference between what a test shows and practical hearing loss. My loss is in the highest range. Now I'm wondering what I'm missing. There is a strong family history on my Mom's side. The Dr. told me it takes about 10 years of gradual loss before a person notices enough to want to do something about it. I'm still dragging my jaw.........

On a different (and much nicer) note. The first thing the Dr. said to me was, "I love your skirt." She said she had trouble finding flowey lightweight skirts. I said I made mine. She said, "I love your bag too. I suppose you made that too?" I said yes. We talked more about sewing and patterns than we did about my hearing! She and I bonded over sewing and she gave me her personal email address and asked that I send her the pattern numbers because she's lately been thinking about taking up sewing again. It's been a while. How fun was that? She's about my age I'd guess. I send her the info and I'm curious to hear from her again to see if she will pick it up.

[HeyJudee]

So Lennie, I can understand your jaw dropping. That would be quite a surprise. Hopefully it will be quite some time before you need to do something further about your loss.

I have a cousin, she's 78, who has been deaf in one ear since she was little. Then a few years ago she had problems with her good ear and is now gradually going deaf in that ear. There is nothing that they can do for her. I stayed with her this past winter during the times my aunt was in the hospital. She is now very good at reading lips and can't hear the TV at all so has the closed captioning showing so that she can understand the news. After watching the TV with the closed captioning, I've realized just how bad that feature is. I guess they are dependent on the typing skills of volunteers or something...but it is terrible. The captioning is delayed and sometimes the context get lost cause the typing gets behind. And the spelling and typos are awful and makes it hard to figure the phrases out. And since there is a delay, every time they cut to commercial, the last part of the text gets cut off and lost. When I worked for the federal gov't they were always promoting accessibility for the mobility and the visually impaired. But not much was ever said or done regarding hearing impaired...and staying with my cousin certainly brought a lot of things to my attention.

[carman]

my dad many years ago was convinced he had no hearing loss and the doc one check up asked him to hold up his watch (which went tick tick back then lol) to his ear and told the doc "ya i hear it" then he held it to his other ear and he was speechless lol. now us kids are convinced he has selective hearing (surprise lol) as when we are visiting we are always raising our voices for him to hear, yet when we are a floor apart he will yell down a comment on what we are talking about lol

carman

[Bama]

now us kids are convinced he has selective hearing (surprise lol) as when we are visiting we are always raising our voices for him to hear, yet when we are a floor apart he will yell down a comment on what we are talking about lol

carman

Sounds exactly like my DFIL used to do.

Wow Lennie. Did you tell your DH?

I have some hearing loss due to Meniere’s disease. But like you, I swear I only have trouble hearing DH. He always tells me to have my ears checked again.

[missfleecy]

I guess egg and your face were in alignment! If you have the guts to tell your DH, that is.

I am curious, though. How did you expect that to turn out well? Were you hoping to find you had perfect hearing, then go home and gloat to your DH that his disease had progressed to the point where you can't understand him?

~ Miss Fleecy

[MartySews2]

I have hearing loss of low tones. Those who listened to loud rock bands in their teenage years are now finding out that their hearing is impaired. My younger sisters have hearing problems too. I just ask hubby & daughter to repeat things to me. I have no plans to get a hearing aid as they are ridiculously expensive & are not covered by my insurance or Medicare. I know that Sandra Betzina who is in her 60's wears a hearing aid in each ear. They are small as well as inconspicuous.
Marty

[Magot]

Its a normal thing for age to lose high frequencies - I top out these days at 1200Hz sorry for the jaw dropping news lennie - how did Kevin take it?

[LeapFrog Libby]

I don't mind telling anyone that I know I have a hearing loss. That is the first thing I tell people, because I don't want to miss anything. My DS who lives with me will start talking and then turn his back and walk off still talking and he cannot understand why I ask him to repeat the last part of what he said.. I have no trouble hearing him when he stays still.. I am waiting until Jan. to get my hearing tested again. Its been 2 years and I could not afford the hearing devices then, and beginning next year my suppl. Ins is covering more .. So, I have decided to suffer 3 more months.. Background noise drowns out any low-toned voices to me. Specially when the noise is in a crowd of people . And, my local CC on Tv leaves a lot to be desired..The networks do a better job. But old reruns are the best because they have been corrected , I think.. LOL

[lendube]

Wow Lennie. Did you tell your DH?

Of course I told Kevin. That was the whole point. He walked out on the porch to greet me as I drove up and I said, "Have a seat. I have to tell you something." He looked worried. I was getting stuff out of the car and told him there was nothing to worry about and I joined him on the porch. Told him what I'd done and the results. First he looked totally surprised and then we both started laughing! Hard! He'd say something and I'd say, "Huh? Can't hear ya! I'm HARD OF HEARING!" And we'd laugh some more. I gave him the sheet I got titled, "Communication Tips for the Hard of Hearing" on one side and "Family Tips for Talking to the Hard Of Hearing" on the other. And we laughed again.

I'm so glad I went. I really wanted to know whether it was partially me and not just his mumbling. I will really try to pay closer attention when he's speaking by listening better (even happily married folks get lazy that way) and physically getting closer to him to better understand instead of calling from another room that I can't hear him. I'll also ask him to get my attention before speaking to me when we're in separate areas.

He good naturedly ribbed me about it all evening. We had fun and some new understanding was reached regarding the issue. A healthy outcome IMO.

[MartySews2]

Sounds like the sounds of love in paradise.
Marty