Claude received one of 'those' mailers which he happened to open and read. You know, the kind that promise you a wonderful gift 'if' you'll just visit them about something. This one promised a free vacation if you would come in for a free hearing test.
Claude showed it to me and we both agreed we wanted the free hearing test.
I was sick several years ago in Maryland and it affected my inner ear and balance. It lasted about two weeks during which time my hearing was impaired and my balance, well, let's just say I couldn't walk anywhere without holding on to the wall. After I was well, my doctor was concerned about the effect on my hearing so he sent me for a hearing test. The diagnosis was that I lost my ability to hear the really, really, really high sounds. Since I am not a dog and can live quite well without those sounds, I was sent home and told not to worry about the hearing loss. For this reason, I felt another hearing test might be a good idea to see if there was any change.
We had the appointment scheduled for several weeks ago but the audiologist was ill and we had to change the date to get the testing done. Friday, we hopped in the Jeep and headed to Lexington for another exciting old people's kinda date.
I noted immediately that the receptionist talked very loudly like Papa. Now, Papa is nearly deaf and that is why he talks that loud. I found it interesting that the receptionist in the audiologist's office talked that loud. Hmmmm...
We filled out our paperwork which was quite fun. You are given two sheets of paper with the same questions on them. We filled out the first sheet answering for our own hearing. The second one you fill out answering for how you feel about your spouses hearing. We were not allowed to share our answers but we both chuckled at appropriate times.
Paperwork was finished and Pat took the papers back to the audiologist. (We learned later they are husband and wife.) He reviewed it and then called us back to start our visit with him.
Gotta love living at this time. He had an enormous monitor on his desk. It was as big as the TV screen in our living room. With his computer he brought up an image. Then he took out a little scope and put it in each of our ears cleaning it carefully between each ear. When the scope was in our ears we could actually see inside our ears. There are a lot of little hairs inside your ear. I didn't realize there were so many hairs. We could see that our ear drums were still translucent which is a good thing. We could also see only little bits of wax which are quite normal and the kind of thing that works itself out of your ear. Bottom line after having our ears scoped is that they were physiologically in great shape.
That accompished we were ready for the hearing test. Dr. Chapman showed us the chart he would use for each of us and how he would record our responses. There were shaded areas on the chart and if your responses fell into that shaded area there was cause for concern. The test is administered in two phases. If you pass the first phase (a series of beeps at varying decible levels) with flying colors there is no need for the second part of the test (a series of words and sentences that are muffled or have background noise making them harder to discern). Your hearing is in good shape.
Dr. Chapman took Claude first, gave him instructions, and closed him up in the sound proof booth. I felt like I was a kid and watching an early game show. I sat in one of those for my hearing test several years ago. But today I saw it from the outside. There were several games shows when we were kids and TV was just getting going that had the contestants go in a sound proof booth. Claude was the first contestant.
Outside the booth I could hear all the doctor was doing and could tell when Claude was hearing and responding. When Dr. Chapman finished the first test on Claude he was concerned. This meant Claude went to the second series of testing. After finishing that series of testing Dr. Chapman did the first phase of the testing on me. Then we followed him back to his nice office with the big TV for our results.
I still have the difficulty with the really, really, really high notes. But it doesn't seem to have changed so we are not to worry about me right now. I'm to just get my hearing checked again in the future to keep track of any increased hearing loss.
Claude on the other hand is definitely beginning to loose hearing. Dr. Chapman asked me between the phases of his testing if I had noticed him not hearing me. I told him I just thought he didn't want to listen and tuned me out. We both laughed. I think Dr. Chapman hears that a lot.
All of Claude's responses were below the line and in the shaded areas. He is definitely loosing hearing. Hearing aids were the suggestion. The big TV was now displaying models and colors. Then it displayed large costs for said hearing aids. Dr. Chapman produced several models of hearing aids so we could see them. Then he showed Claude the ones he recommends. They are little buds attached to a thin transparent plastic cord to the hearing aid. You put the bud in your ear, wrap the cord over your ear and the hearing aid fits behind the ear. You couldn't even see anything except that little thin clear cord. If you weren't looking for that, you wouldn't even see it.
What I was seeing was a look of dismay in my poor hubby's face. We went in there to be told our hearing was fine. We were going to walk out with Claude placing an order for hearing aids. My hubby needed time to absorb the shock of that diagnosis. I don't know that will happened until he gets the hearing aids and gets used to them and the increased ability to hear.
We picked the hearing aids for Claude that we both felt best about. They are top of the line and about half the size of the ones he tried on in the office. Claude will pick them up next week and get them adjusted for his hearing loss.
While he was finishing up with Dr. Chapman, Pat came and sat down by me. She is so Southern, friendly and comfortable with that friendliness. She said she wanted me to be the one she discussed this with. She pulled out a pamphelt about a free vacation. I honestly completely forgot about the vacation part of this. I truly wanted the hearing test and completely forgot the vacation. I listened and took the pamphlet. Claude and I have already picked out what we want to do and I'll take care of that next week.
We also got a free Kindle Fire with the hearing aid deal this month. We were able to get some help from our insurance company on the cost and we got a discount for being old (translated as AARP members) and Claude being in the military.
Now, we learned some things while there that we both never knew before:
- If you start to lose hearing the little hairs in your ear become brittle and fall out. This leads to permanent hearing loss.
- You should always wear two hearing aids. If you are only wearing one and it is picking up the sound, your brain will use that ear and leave the other ear alone. This allows the hairs in the unused ear to become brittle and fall out and you lose your hearing.
- A study released this year shows a connection between hearing loss and Alzheimer's.
- One lady put a Q-Tip in her ear to clean it out and pulled out her ear drum and the three bones in the ear. She ended up with major surgery to repair this. Yike!!!
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