Hearing Aids

Image by pneff via Flickr

I went with my mom yesterday to her appointment to have a free hearing test done at Miracle-Ear. I was sitting with her throughout the whole process and watching all of the tests she went through. It was quite different from when I remember having hearing tests done to me as a child. She didn't have to go into a separate room while we sat on the other side of the glass.

We stayed in the woman's office and when she was ready to begin administering the tests, she just closed her office door and ALL outside noise was blocked off - we heard nothing! The lady inserted these spongy things in her ears which pretty much blocked out all noise except what she was saying to her through a headset or the noises that were coming through the computer during the testing phase. Overall, my mom did well. She was told to have her ears checked again in two years.

While we were sitting there talking I mentioned that I had been wanting to get my ears checked because I have noticed my hearing is different. We were about to leave the office after my mom's appointment was over and the woman asked me suddenly if I had time and wanted to go ahead and get my hearing checked. I gladly took her up on it because I really have been wanting to do that anyway.

After about 45 minutes of testing (much longer than my mom) I found out I do have mild to moderate hearing loss and she recommended hearing aids for me. This did not really surprise me.

What DID surprise me was the results of speech therapy test I had to do. I had the spongy things in my ears and she was talking to me through a headset. She adjusted the volume according to when I told her I could hear her fine. Then testing each ear separately and then together I listened while a man's voice would say "Say the word and" or various other words and I would repeat what he said. The word he said would flash on the computer screen so my mom could see what the word was. I had my eyes closed and was turned the other way so I couldn't see the word. I had told her ahead of time that I knew my left ear was worse than my right ear - I was right. I scored 85/100 with my left ear - meaning I missed words!! I was shocked! My mom told me later I had missed the first word and I really couldn't believe that....I thought I had heard them all fine. This was definitely an eye-opener.

I don't think our insurance covers hearing aids - one of my jobs today is to call and find out. The aids she wanted to fit me with are cute! They look like a piece of jewelry. They even come with 4 interchangeable colored covers and you can buy more colors to match any outfit. Isn't that crazy? LOL

Now I need to make an appointment for Greg...his hearing is worse than mine!