(maybe) Getting Hearing Aids at 29 – my hearing loss story

I went to have a hearing test and it turns out that I have light to moderate hearing loss, which mostly affects high-frequency sounds/soft consonants. I wasn’t at all surprised as I have known about my lower than average hearing for pretty much my entire life; certain people just sound like they are constantly mumbling to me, I am known to ask people to repeat themselves multiple times, and the fact that I might not hear a phone ringing or someone calling me is a common occurrence. I think it’s genetic because it runs on my father’s side of the family…

If you have never noticed this about me then it’s likely that it’s because we were together, in close proximity + in a quiet place, and you weren’t whispering. Other ways that I have “hid” my hearing loss are: a) through educated guessing about what someone might have said or b) simply ignoring the person or nodding and smiling (LOL sorry if I did this to you). 

What I am actually pretty surprised about is that I am entitled to – that it’s actually being recommended for me – to get hearing aids. In fact, it’s recommended for even light hearing loss, which I suppose makes sense, because no one would ever say “Yeah, you could totally get by!” to someone with the slightest vision loss. Having hearing aids/hearing loss is still stigmatised, it seems. I think it’s getting better now, but growing up, I can tell you that not being able to hear properly was very rarely met with any kind of understanding or empathy. It was almost always met with annoyance and impatience – treated as if it was my fault. 

My audiogram results for a better explanation of my hearing loss. Any point greater than 26dB is considered hearing loss. More information on degrees of hearing loss here.

Once I get the chance to do another hearing test at a doctor’s, and they give me a proper prescription, I can get health insurance to cover a standard pair of hearing aids. If not, then, we’ll see… right now I’m testing a pair of hearing aids that the local hearing aid dispenser gave me to try for a week, and here’s what my audio experience has been like so far: 

• I can hear way more rustling and crackling in my surroundings than before, which is sometimes annoying and can lead to “sensory overload” (as I am writing this, I am feeling weirdly fatigued and unfocused, so I’m taking a “hearing aid break”)

• My own voice sounds like I am speaking through a metal box, kinda

• Children sound like robots 

• Any recordings coming out of a device sound extra metallic

• Overall, any high frequency sounds  have more of a “vibration” to them 

WOW, none of that sounds actually beneficial, but I think I need to test out speaking to people in noisy places, or speaking to children and people that mumble by default (also children, mostly). If I don’t end up getting hearing aids because $$$ or whatever, then I suppose the only message that I want to send with this is to please be more patient and understanding with people that can’t hear properly, or otherwise have more difficulty understanding the world than you do :)