The author took an online hearing test, learned how important it is to test early, and tried out a hearing aid
“What” is the most commonly used word in my household! That’s a statement, not a question. My “what” is usually followed by my wife repeating what she just said to me.
Ok, yes, I have some hearing loss. And while some may joke that I have selective hearing loss focused on my wife’s soft voice, the fact remains that certain pitches and words are not as clear to me as they used to be.
I can blame my hearing loss on the Cream concert I attended years ago where I was just a few feet from the giant speaker blasting Eric Clapton’s guitar riffs — it took me days to recover. Or maybe it was scuba diving when I accidentally found myself below 100 feet. While those incidents might exacerbate the condition, the fact is that I’m 77 years old and some cells in the cochlea, the part of my inner ear that transits sound to my brain, have died, never to regenerate.
But hearing loss is not just about loudness. “While we pick up sound with our ears, that sound needs to be processed and interpreted in our brain,” Dr. Heather Andrews, an audiologist in Clarksville, TN, told me. “People with hearing loss may hear the sound but it doesn’t reach the brain effectively. Your brain then starts to lose the ability to process sound, like a muscle that atrophies when you don’t use it. And,” Andrews continued, “you can then gradually lose the ability to process speech, even with amplification.” That, she says, is a significant development, sometimes tied to increased risk of dementia.
Most hearing loss is a gradual process. As we age, we start losing our ability to distinguish the sounds at the higher frequencies — female voices are at those higher frequencies. But we don’t realize it because our brains have the ability to compensate for what we don’t hear. It fills in the gaps, much like the “Auto Correct” process we see on our iPhones. And yes, like our phones, our brain sometimes misinterpret the words, leading to some funny examples, like the mondegreen: Creedance Clearwater’s “There’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “There’s a bad moon on the rise.” Consonants, especially, are often confused. When I introduce myself — “Hi, I’m Bart,” — the person in front me sometimes responds, “Hi, Mark, nice to meet you.” He probably didn’t actually hear the B in my name so the “Auto Correct” in his brain assumed that my name is “Mark.”
“With hearing loss, your brain is only getting pieces of a message. Hearing aids can give you more pieces to work with, but your brain still needs to put them together,” Andrews continued. This is why it takes time and practice to adjust to a hearing aid. It’s also why people who wait years to treat their hearing loss may have more difficulty adjusting to hearing aids and may not find as much benefit in understanding speech as someone who started managing their hearing loss early on.
So when an over-the-counter manufacturer of hearing aids reached out to me, I jumped at the chance to try one of the products they offer. Donning ear buds, I took the online hearing test which, they explained, would provide a basic notion of the kind of hearing loss I have. A full exam with a professional would yield a great deal more, but this online test would be sufficient. And if I needed hearing aids, the equipment itself is programmed to adjust to my specific needs, that is, create settings for specific frequencies that I’m not able to process as well. After the exam, I met by Zoom with audiologist Heather Andrews, who was referred to me by Zepp Clarity, a manufacturer of hearing aids. Dr. Andrews confirmed that yes, indeed, I have “mild to moderate hearing loss.”
Together we chose an appropriate set of hearing aids, those that wrap around my ear and have all the bells and whistles I want. Like others sold over the counter, bluetooth is installed so I can talk on my phone or listen to music without disturbing anyone around. It has rechargeable batteries and various settings I can select or adjust using an app on my phone. There are pre-set adjustments for when I’m in a crowd, walking outside, watching TV, or when I need a clarity boost that amplifies speech frequencies and reduces background noise. There are, of course, smaller and simpler models that fit directly into the ear but many of those do not have the range of settings that I wanted to try out.
Installing the hearing aids was a snap, and with Dr. Andrew’s guidance, I chose the correct hood so the earpieces fit snugly into my ear without discomfort. Hoods also help filter out some background noise, one of the chief complaints of hearing aid wearers.
My first reaction: Everything is so loud! I could almost hear my heart beating. I certainly heard all the birds chirping, and when I was moving around outside I could hear the wind whistling. Switching to “outside” mode helped to moderate the whistle sound, especially when I turned the volume down.
Second reaction: Everything I hear sounds amplified, because, well, it is. Sounds are coming from a speaker in my ear. The key will be whether spoken words are not just louder, but also easier for my brain to process as words. Switching to “clarity boost” mode helped make dialog a bit easier to understand while watching TV.
I’ve heard this said before, and based on my limited experience with hearing aids, I agree that they can change your world. I liken it to when I had cataract surgery and the surgeon replaced my yellowing, cloudy lens with a brand spankin’ new one. Wow, I thought, I hadn’t seen blue that bright in years. And the whites. Whew, they’re almost blinding.
12 Signs That Say You Should Get Your Hearing Checked
- Everyone around you is mumbling
- Your loved ones keep reminding you that they have to shout
- You, yourself, are often shouting
- Your loved ones point out that the TV is really loud
- You rely on subtitles on your TV, even when the dialog is in your native language
- You hear people talking but can’t always make out the words
- You find yourself tuning out to conversations because you don’t fully understand what people are saying
- Background noise is especially disturbing and makes it hard for you to understand what people are saying
- When someone starts talking to you, you miss the first few words and need to ask them to start over
- You rely on reading lips more often
- You strain to hear and sometimes develop headaches because of it
- You begin to develop tinnitus, a ringing in your ear
Read the full article here
