So yesterday I learned that I am hard of hearing. Something that Amanda has been proposing for some years now and honestly I did not believe. And to be blunt it has thrown me for a loop. The doctor said my hearing loss is in the "Moderate" range and that on the scale they use most people with good hearing have a straight line across the chart. He called mine a "Cookie bite" since it looks like someone took a bite out of the straight line I should have.
But the good news is that the other tests he gave me showed that we can use hearing aids to amplify the range I am missing. He even proposed that if my hearing loss is genetic that it will amplify a range of sound that I have been missing my whole life (We will not know until we do three or four more testing sessions each six months a part.)
Then he looked at me and said "Do you think you can wear hearing aids Alan?"
Wow! That's a good question! It seems like a no-brainier right? They are after all just glasses for your ears. But it is more than that. When I see someone with hearing aids that is young I think "Oh! A special person!" Since I have (for some fucked up reason) always thought that people with hearing aids are either old or are on the verge of being deaf. I know that sounds stupid but that's been my modus operandi for most of my life.
So he tried one on me so that I could feel what it would be like. They are the over the ear types that will let the sound I already hear in but amplify what I am missing. They felt like I was wearing sunglasses without having anything covering my eyes. And the were VERY small! Not at all like the ones that I remember as a kid that went behind the whole ear.
As I wore it he explained that these days people are more excepting of seeing younger people with hearing aids since we all have devices in our ears like ear buds for iPods or bluetooths but that I will encounter people who think they need to talk load while looking me directly in the face so I can read lips or something equally stupid. I can see that happening to me...
And factor in that our insurance most likely does not cover hearing aids (The middle of the road ones cost $1200 each! YEESH!) it brings a WHOLE new level of "Do I get these or not?".
I used to play a game with myself where I would close my eyes and see how far I could hear. If I do it now I hear -
My dog snooring
An jet airliner going overhead
A few doors down someone is grinding on the bricks of their house
Traffic on the street and a garbage truck doing what garbage trucks do
So I can definitely hear! But I guess I am missing a part of the puzzle... Which also happens to be the part that my wife's voice falls in.
Yay...
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