One Month and Counting, Living in Two Worlds

I was at my Dad's home in Northern Virginia this week for a long overdue visit.We spend a lot of time visiting and talking about everything in general and nothing in specific. I asked him when he realized that he noticed his hearing loss. He told me that while he was on a layover, he was sitting on the bed in his hotel room when he put his watch to his ear. He realized that he could not hear his watch ticking in his right ear and could barely hear it in his left ear. He was fitted for his first pair of hearing aids a few weeks later. He was 58 and that was in 1984. Today he is mostly deaf in his right ear and has a severe loss in his left ear. Several pairs of hearing aids later at 85 years old his hearing has continued to deteriorate. To quote my dad, "Old age is a pain in the ass". What most impressed him most about my hearing aids was the blue tooth interface. Maybe after his taxes are done a trip to Costco is in order.

Living in Two Worlds
Every night about 10:00 pm I take my hearing aids out. I clean them and put them in my Store and Dry for the night. Each time I do this, I return to a world where sounds are muffled and I am back to " Huh, What did she say?" When I wake up, my brain has adjusted to the change in audio input and the sounds I can't hear aren't as noticeable until I put my hearing aids back in. The blue tooth links up with my Blackberry and I am back in the world of the hearing. I wish I could wear my hearing aids 24 hours a day. While not perfect they are huge improvement compared to my unaided hearing.

What's That?
Most people don't see my hearing aids but they do see my Streamer around my neck. No one knows what it is. The TSA screener at the airport and security guards at several facilities didn't know what it was and asked me not to wear it. A brief explanation and pointing to my hearing aids answered their questions. It's obvious they expected the hearing aids to look different. 


Batteries and Domes and Dry & Store
Batteries last about 5-6 days before they die a sudden death. Changing both domes takes about 5 minutes. The Store and Dry may be overkill but it's seems like a good investment to dry and sanitize the hearing aids daily. It also provides safe storage every night at home or traveling in a place I won't forget.