dot2 by Resound -- my hearing aid (only mine is bright green) -- wow what a difference this small thing can make.
Yesturday I took the day off, and Jay ( hubby) came with me to get my hearing aid. I put it in under the watchful eye of the Audiologist. Then he explained all the cleaning , storage etc.
I noticed the sound of the fan in his office - I hadn't heard it before putting the hearing aid in, so I told him I could hear it. He explained the low frequency sounds would be what I would start to hear - and it may take awhile to get use to it.
So we pay , and off we go to spend the day together -- a day date. We walk down the hall to leave - and I tell Jay I notice all the fans everywhere or motors. He just smiles , I walk out the front door. BOOM it hits me -- NOISE.
I feel like there are sounds going off all over the place and I start to try and find where the noise is coming from. The big trucks going by, the sounds of construction, and the sheer volume. I know that may brain has to reprogram the sounds and I will filter out uncessairy sounds as the neurotransmitters in my brain do their job (in time). But for about 5 minutes I am in complete sensory overload. Jay is looking at me like I have lost my mind because I am apparently spinning in circles ( I explain later I was trying to find where all the sounds were coming from - it sounded like helicopters, where right behind me, and cars where zooming at me). Oh by the way -- this is occuring at the corner of Bay and College - right in the heart of downtown Toronto.
We go into the bank - and again the hum of the fans that seem to exisit everywhere are there again. I try to explain to Jay it was like someone turned on surround sound in my head. Remember the first time you heard that in the theaters back in the early 90's. That is what happened - it sounded like all around me there was all this stuff happening and I couldn't pinpoint the location. And for 30 minutes, this adjustment slowly begins to happen - I am hearing things, but no longer as startled. All day yesturday I thought about the kids I know - and I thought wow if that is atall close to what people call Sensory Dysfunction -- then wholly crap.
As the day went on, I began to adapt, It was more the fullness in my ear from the plug that I felt. I did take it off and put it back on a number of times. When watching TV we went from listening at 30 on the volume count to 19 ( wow , again sorry family).
My sweet little girl came over and said " does this mean you can listen again?" I said yes -- she kissed my hearing aid and said good. Then off she went to play... I am grateful
2 comments:
How exciting! As I was reading that it made me think of my little guy who has trouble with crowd noise. You can see why they react the way they do. I'd hate to lose my hearing, but what a cool thing to be able to experience sounds like this again. A sort of silver lining maybe?!
Definately a slver lining + a new perspective all in one -- strange side effect after about 6 hours my brain is tired. I imagine that will stop.. it is strange because I am now at the point I am begining to isolate sounds - such as a clicking of a cane or a person walking in high heels -- thanks for all the great comments :)
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