Decrepitude, Incoming

Thursday, September 24, 2015

When the Smart Man and I bought our new digs, we joked that we were purchasing a ranch style home in order to prepare for our upcoming decrepitude. We figured since I "could not be turned down" for life insurance, it was probably time to make plans for our elder years while we were still able bodied and in our prime earning years. Go, us.

Except decrepitude is no longer an abstract concept around here.

I've been having trouble hearing conversations for the last several years, and here lately the Smart Man's inability to get my attention without shouting has grown worse. So off I went to the audiologist to get my hearing tested. It had been ten years or more, and it was time.

Turns out I have mild hearing loss in my right ear, and moderate hearing loss in my left. I have severe hearing loss at the highest registers in both ears. The latter I suspect is a direct result of my time in the Navy, and the rest could be related, as well, but there's no way to prove it either way. The audiologist was not particularly concerned about the high register loss - people don't speak at that pitch, and I no longer have to listen for equipment alarms.

But the moderate loss in my left ear, and the unevenness of the loss between the ears, is a concern. There's about a 10-20db difference, which means I have trouble telling where sounds are coming from, and I have trouble distinguishing between voices and ambient noise unless I'm concentrating on it, or looking directly at the speaker. Both of these things are troublesome both to me and the people around me.

So it's time to take my first step into decrepitude, and get a hearing aid for my left ear.

Getting technological help to ensure I hear well is not up for discussion. I'll be getting fitted for my new hearing aid on Wednesday of next week, and I hope it does the job it's designed for without frustration and hand-waving.

But I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It's unobtrusive, and the color I selected blends right in with my hair, so it's not necessarily a vanity thing.

Maybe it's just the harbinger of other, less manageable aspects of decrepitude. And I'm not looking forward to that at all.

5 comments:

mom in northern said...

Welcome to my world...I have not, in living memory, been able to tell where sound comes from...
It can be a major problem some times...
Lov ya...

Unknown said...

When you come to BTB's we can Bling it out with rhinestones and shit!!! ✨✨✨

Janiece said...

Lisa, I thought of that, too. I MUST BEDAZZLE MY HEARING AID.

Zana said...

According to my newly adopted from china grandson and who heard out of one ear for the first time when they by passed his ear drum with some contraption. "Puppies Mama! Puppies!"

You will be amazed.

Steve Buchheit said...

Just remember to keep it charged up. I can't tell you how many people I've x-rays that I have to shout less loudly AFTER they take their hearing aids out.