I am Hearing Impaired

I am Hearing Impaired

Yesterday I had an appointment with the Audiologist. I left her office an hour later with a large reusable canvas bag containing three boxes, a 32-page book and a receipt for two thousand, four hundred and nine dollars and seventy-one cents. That’s the price of hearing aids in today’s world.

When I got home, I sat down at the kitchen table and removed everything from the bag. I soon realized there was a lot to learn about the new technology of hearing without human ears.

For the last ten years I have worn regular in-ear aids with batteries that last about ten days. They were adequate but the loud beeping in my ears when the batteries wore down sometime startled me to the point of jumping off my chair. Now, rechargeable behind the ear technology was available and I took the leap of faith and bought them. I cannot tell you yet if they are worth the price since I have worn them for less than twenty-four hours. I have not yet tested them in crowded restaurants or shopping malls where chattering noises come from all sides. You see wearing hearing aids magnifies sound – all sound. That means that a keystroke is just as loud as a voice; a teacup set on the table is equal in sound to the child’s voice in the next room and the direction where any sound is coming from is not distinguishable. When I am in a store shopping with a friend, if they talk to me from behind a rack of clothes, I do not know where they are. Normal hearing persons can detect where sound comes from I cannot.

Such is the life of the hearing impaired. However, that life is just as natural to me as regular hearing is to those with normal hearing. I do not feel handicapped. The most difficult part about being hearing impaired is teaching others to speak to me. And here is a lesson for all who have hearing impaired friends or relatives. Do not speak to them from another room or when you are behind them. A hearing impaired person must see your face to hear you. Seeing becomes more important to those with loss of hearing. If you want to test this, try placing a blindfold on your friend and watch them as they speak. You will be surprised how much the expression of the eyes contributes to hearing. Reading faces is something we have all done since birth. It is a normal part of hearing and understanding speech.

I have long forgotten what it is like to relax with the sound of music in the background, hearing the bird’s song or the rustle of the trees in a soft spring breeze. Those are sounds only the hearing world enjoys. When I take my hearing aids out at night, I enjoy the quiet stillness of the universe as the planets orbit in their chosen paths. Perhaps I hear the silence of an occasional UFO. Who knows what sounds the universe sends us in its own silence. A hearing person will never understand this; complete silence is only for the benefit for the deaf and hard of hearing. And it is beautiful. A hearing person hears electrical appliances turning on and off, traffic noises, aircraft, doors opening and closing and floors creaking. I am blissfully ignorant of these intrusions.

There may also be fears at night. I will never hear the burglar or thief enter my home at night even if he crashed the door or window. I may not hear sirens down the street or hear the noise of traffic to disturb my sleep. This is not necessarily a bad thing for me. These sounds may very well be intrusive for a hearing person. I have been both hearing and hearing impaired. One is not better or worse than the other. Both are normal conditions and I have never felt pity for others or myself with my condition.

Now let me get back to my thirty-two-page book and learn how these contraptions work. Maybe I will test them out in the mall tomorrow.

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