So I’m kind of deaf. That is to say, I have moderate conductive hearing loss in one ear. It used to be a lot worse before surgery. I’ve never used a hearing aid, but because I’m training to be a field linguist and I sometimes struggle with identifying phonemes in other languages, I’ve been considering getting one.
I have to admit that I’m mildly nervous about this. I’m really, really used to my hearing as it is. Especially since one of the options suggested to me has been a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid, and I can’t look at that diagram without wanting to scream.
Anyway, I was wondering if you all had any anecdotes to share with me.
My brother’s father-in-law is hard of hearing in one ear. He tells us that he used to use a hearing aid, but within a few years the hearing in his bad ear was as bad as it used to be without the hearing aid. These days, he has no hearing in that ear.
You might want to ask your doctor about this scenario.
I had an economics professor years ago who had hearing aids in both ears. He had some kind of rig that he carried around in his shirt pocket that controlled them (and picked up sound, I’m guessing). He actually expounded on the virtues of needing hearing aids, said that it was like carrying around a mute button with him all the time. When he was around some annoying noise, all he had to do was switch it off.
Still, that sucks, andygirl, especially in that line of work. Hope you can find some way to make it work.