I was 21 when I was fitted with my first hearing aid, In the 70s it was quite a large behind the ear analogue aid and I hated that thing! Everything was so loud! All I could hear was the clunk clunk of my crutches and due to a short neck I couldn’t wear a coat or thick jumper without it whistling and rustling against my clothes. I decided to buy myself a tiny in ear hearing aid, the latest technology, it was great! And hidden! I hadn’t long started in my first job, there was a guy there who had significant hearing loss and was treated abysmally. No way I was going to admit having a hearing aid!
Over the next 10 years my hearing was slowly declining and I was beginning to get ear infections from wearing an aid 24/7 . I had children by then and hubby worked shifts so couldn’t hear them crying at night. We just couldn’t afford the private aids anymore and to be honest I wasn’t getting much benefit. I ended up with bilateral NHS digital hearing aids, which were much improved from my original ones. However after 30+ years my ears were an itchy oozing smelly mess. My children wouldn’t even hug me. I tried vented molds, and various anti allergy molds but by the time I reached 50 I could only wear them for about an hour without them clogging up and being useless. I had various jobs during this period but constant mistakes mishearing, not able to use the phone etc I took early retirement. I couldn’t hear TV, hubby didn’t like subtitles, family and friends would just get irritated repeating themselves and I would pretend I understood. Smiling like a Cheshire cat, I could tell by their face, I shouldn’t be smiling!
After retiring I found a lip reading class, it was so nice to be with others who understood! Through the lip reading class I learnt to explain my difficulties, I learnt about various technology and services and obviously the skill of lip reading. Basically it boosted my confidence and created friendships. I also volunteered with RNID doing basic repairs on hearing aids.
Around this time I was referred by audiology to the Implant Centre. I wasn’t eligible for a Cochlear Implant, but I was suitable for a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) I expected the surgeon to back off due to my OI , the thought of drilling my skull to insert a little screw (abutment) was a bit freaky. Thankfully it wasn’t an issue, the only precaution they took was to make me wait longer before attaching the processor. This was to ensure the abutment was well embedded in the bone and healed. I could still wear hearing aids whilst waiting. The processor then clicks on to the abutment.
I’m now the proud wearer of bilateral Oticon Ponto 5 super powers , no more molds in ears, my ears are now fully healed and smelling sweet . I was a bit worried at first that they were not as loud as my hearing aids but when my daughter mentioned I hadn’t said “what” all day I realised I was hearing speech, rather than all the background noise my BTE aids where picking up. I’m also currently learning BSL to help me communicate with my many deaf and hard of hearing friends. It’s also to future proof my social life incase my hearing continues to decline.
My life is so much better now, but acceptance of my hearing loss has taken me a life time, so please, don’t be embarrassed or frightened, there is support to help you, just don’t try to hide it like I did.
