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Friday, August 7, 2009

Horrible Hearing Aid

I went to the audiologist today to try a hearing aid. No
one had any real expectations of success. For that reason,
no one was disappointed by the dismal result. Ugh! That
hearing aid was HORRIBLE!
When the audiologist first turned on the hearing aid, I was
in pain. The loudness of her voice truly hurt. She had to
turn it down. That made it more comfortable but the speech
was very distorted. I started to laugh. It sounded like
the adults on a Charlie Brown cartoon. "Wah wah wah."
I scored zero on all three speech discrimination tests. My
guesses were closer with the CI and hearing aid together
than they were with the CI alone. I heard absolutely
nothing with the hearing aid alone. Any way you put it,
zero is zero. I failed.
Forget it! We are done with the hearing aid. I got the
proof I needed that a hearing aid won't work. I didn't even
bring the hearing aid home. I didn't need to. It's time to
move on.
The next step is an evaluation by my CI audiologist. If she
thinks I'm a possible candidate for a second CI, she'll
send me to a surgeon. I am sure they will do many more
tests. I will probably need a nerve conductivity test.
It's the best way to prove that the nerves can take sound
to the brin, thus indicating the possibility of success.
There are too many unanswered questions in my case. My past
medical history brings up many concerns. Why did I lose
some functioning with my current CI? Were my auditory
nerves permanently damaged from the illness of eight years
ago? If so, will that effect the success of a second CI?
We really don't know yet.
There are so many unknowns. But now we can cross one off
the list. We now know a hearing aid will not work. I'm a
tiny step closer to my dream of bilateral CI's.

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