“Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will be clear.”

So last week I had a hearing test appointment. My first one since I was 16 years old and I am 34 years old now... do the math :-) The outcome of my check up was much more severe than I expected. I was diagnosed with a mild, bilateral hearing loss when I was in grade 3. So I had to wear hearing aids and shortly after that I was given an FM system to wear (transmitter for the teacher and reciever for me) that hooked up to my hearing aids. I hated them. I hated everything about the hearing aids because I was the ONLY one in my entire school who needed them. Then when the FM system was added, it signalled out my difference even more... which sucks when you are trying desperately to fit in and not stand out. Above is a picture similar to what I would have worn minus the part hooking onto the head above the ear. I couldn't find an older picture. That is alot of get up eh? I can't say I was teased much, so I am thankful for that because sometimes kids can be very mean. Honestly though I found them very uncomfortable to wear and my ears felt "plugged" all the time, even though they were supposed to help me hear better. I felt disoriented when I wore them. The program 2 that I could switch them to while on the phone really never worked properly. At least I have some funny stories to share when it comes to the FM system. One stands out though. It was in grade 7 and my teachers name was Mr Smith. He had gone out of the classroom and I found out that day just how far of a distance that FM system would work. All the sudden I hear, what I thought was the water fountain at first, then I realized he had forgotten to turn the system off to go to the washroom. At that I started laughing, good belly laugh kind of laughing.... of course everyone wanted to know what was so funny- so I told them.... to this day I don't know if Mr Smith knows that happened, I never told him but I am sure he wondered why we were all laughing so hard. Back to my appointment last week. I was prepared for them to tell me my hearing had gotten worse and that I needed to get new hearing aids... my thought was technology has to have improved tons since 1994. Well after the test the man proceeded to tell me that I was between 45-50% deaf in both ears. Say WHAT!? Shock was already starting to set in... I thought I am sure I can hear better than that. Like I said I knew my hearing had gotten worse, and so did many of my loved ones but didn't think it had deteriorated that much. They explained my hearing loss (reverse loss), which is rare and different than most. They showed me a chart and discussed the different tones and how I can hear some better than others. So it depends on the tone and the environment. Then I asked a question I didn't want the answer to.... is it going to continue to deteriorate? And the answer was that yes overtime it will most likely deteriorate until it is completely gone. Shock still setting in- not something I really considered would happen to me over the last number of years. They talked about how they know alot more now than they did 15-20 years ago and then showed me the kind of hearing aid I actually need. They also explained how the kind I used as a kid were probably no good for my hearing loss... no kidding! It wasn't all in my head. When they showed me pictures I could hardly believe how far technology has come, the ones I need are the size of a kidney bean! They are essentialy tiny computers. They even have blue tooth in them- Wow!! They even come in different colours...maybe they won't be so awful after all and the big plus is I'll be able to hear alot better. Which, of course, will be healthier for me and the people around me- which is an important part of living :-)