By Simon Schofield<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI finally faced up to my problem one summer evening, strolling up the road on the <\/span>way for a drink with my teenage daughter. She was on my right hand side \u2013 and <\/span>chatting away. <\/span>I could hardly hear a word she was saying. <\/span>In hindsight, all the signs were there \u2013 and familiar to those of us who now wear <\/span>hearing aids. I asked people to repeat things. A lot. I had the TV or radio on louder <\/span>than everyone else. At parties, or in the pub, I struggled to hear the person talking <\/span>to me over the hubbub. I\u2019d even returned a pair of headphones, claiming they were <\/span>faulty because the sound on the right had side was muffled and close to inaudible. <\/span>I\u2019d ignored all the signs, but I couldn\u2019t carry on doing that. <\/span>Was I deaf on that side? It was time to find out. It was a big decision \u2013 and one I <\/span>wasn\u2019t too fond of pursuing to its conclusion. I was only fifty two, running my own <\/span>company in television production and in my free time leading an extremely active <\/span>life indulging my passion (my wife would say obsession) for road cycling. Whilst it\u2019s <\/span>never a great idea to be complacent, life was pretty sweet \u2013 on the grand scale of <\/span>things, I didn\u2019t have a lot to worry about. So I really didn\u2019t want to be deaf. <\/span>But having made the decision, there was little point in delay. I made a private <\/span>appointment with an ENT specialist for a hearing test and examination. It didn\u2019t <\/span>take long. I had quite severe loss on the right hand side and a mild loss on the left. <\/span>It was \u201cidiopathic\u201d \u2013 this is doctor-speak for \u201cWe have no idea why you\u2019re deaf.\u201d <\/span>There was one highly unlikely thing that needed to be ruled out, which is a <\/span>common cause of single-sided deafness, namely an acoustic neuroma. You don\u2019t <\/span>want one of those, but an MRI scan, arranged through the NHS, provided <\/span>reassurance. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\nI wasn\u2019t dying, I was just deaf. <\/span>Now what? The immediate priority was a cycling trip to the Alps to climb a few hills, <\/span>watch a race \u2013 and reflect that I was now officially deaf. Over a few beers with my <\/span>mates, the way forward emerged: The problem wasn\u2019t going to fix itself \u2013 I was <\/span>going to need hearing aids. I wasn\u2019t thrilled, but I just needed to get on with it. <\/span>I hit Google when I got home \u2013 and emerged a couple of days later, thoroughly <\/span>confused. I work in a highly technical industry, I\u2019m a fully paid up gadget-freak and <\/span>I\u2019m pretty clued up on electronics and technology but the choice was <\/span>overwhelming. I needed a human being to help me \u2013 and one who knew what they <\/span>were talking about. I found Rob on the web, and a few days later, he was sitting <\/span>across from me at the dining room table. <\/span>I feel a bit sorry for audiologists in this position \u2013 they tend to be the focus of your <\/span>frustration that one of your essential faculties has gone south, never to return and <\/span>dealing with people who are essentially in a state of shock can\u2019t be easy. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\nRob was very patient \u2013 and explained that my dream scenario, a hearing aid that <\/span>would be invisible, have eternal battery life and would restore my hearing to 20\/20, <\/span>was probably not going to happen. <\/span>He took me through the options and guided me towards a Behind-The-Ear (BTE) <\/span>CROS system. The system would place a tiny box of tricks, nestling just behind the <\/span>ear, on my bad side. In it \u2013 a microphone which would gather sound and send it, <\/span>via Bluetooth, to a second box of tricks on my good side. All the sound would be <\/span>channeled into my good ear \u2013 with some impressive electronics mixing it and <\/span>processing it to make it sound as natural as possible and to fool the brain that the <\/span>bad ear was working. <\/span>There was an inevitable period of adjustment. No matter how good the electronics, <\/span>the new sound is different. I now know that it\u2019s called \u201cprocessed\u201d sound. It <\/span>sounded artificial and a bit weird. But gradually, I became accustomed to it. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\nNot <\/span>overflowing with happiness, but adapted \u2013 and three years later, the adaptation <\/span>process continues. <\/span>I think Rob probably finds me one of his more demanding clients. I had him back <\/span>several times to tweak the sound and the volume in the early months \u2013 and his <\/span>patience and knowledge was always exemplary. He refrained from giving me the <\/span>hard sell on new products or advances in software and hardware, but, continuing to <\/span>do my own research, I am now on my third CROS system. <\/span>The principle remains the same, but the technological advances are substantial. My <\/span>latest Phonak system is much better than anything I\u2019ve had before \u2013 the sound is <\/span>very natural and the ability of the software to learn from the various sound <\/span>environments I encounter is incredibly clever. <\/span>Of course, it\u2019s not been cheap. Rob does price keenly and he has given me good <\/span>deals. But I have spent thousands of pounds trying to defeat my disability. Three <\/span>years on, my life has changed. Some of it was going to happen anyway, and some <\/span>of it was a consequence of being deaf. I am reluctant to do some things that I used <\/span>to do. But my main interests remain the same, I still greatly enjoy life, I still ride my <\/span>bike up mountains, and nowadays I just try to see deafness as part of life\u2019s rich <\/span>tapestry. It could be a lot worse . . . . . and every few weeks I get to have a good <\/span>moan at Rob. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\nIn conclusion \u2013 if you find yourself in my position, I\u2019d give the following advice: <\/span>Don\u2019t think that a hearing aid will restore your hearing to perfection. It might, but <\/span>it\u2019s unlikely. You have to learn to deal with being a bit deaf and you will work out <\/span>strategies that help. <\/span>As in many areas of life, you get what you pay for. The more expensive hearing <\/span>aids do produce better results. <\/span>Tell people that you\u2019re a bit deaf. It removes embarrassment and everybody I\u2019ve <\/span>ever told has reacted positively. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\nAnd be nice to Rob \u2013 it\u2019s not his fault you\u2019re deaf!\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Visit RJDhearingcare<\/a> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 out of 5 stars \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 5\/5 I\u2019m deaf.\u00a0 Now what? \u00a0 \u00a0By Simon Schofield \u201cI finally faced up to my problem one summer evening, strolling up the road on the\u00a0way for a drink with my teenage daughter. She was on my right hand side \u2013 and\u00a0chatting away. I could hardly hear a word she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rjd","tag-leeds","col-md-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4903,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions\/4903"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trusthear.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}