What

The title of this blog is one of my most used words.  “What?”  My hearing has been bad for years, but I think it’s getting worse.  I go out to lunch or breakfast with my three neighbors, one is turning 90 this month and the other two are 86.  They all wear hearing aids and our conversations are sometimes weird because we can’t hear each other.  But my hearing is much worse than my friends.

I wear expensive hearing aids and get them adjusted regularly.  Last week, I decided to go to UNC Hearing, rather the audiologist I normally go to.  I got a hearing test, and a word recognition test.  I told the doctor about my condition and said I was interested in discussing a cochlear implant.

After the tests, the doctor said my hearing hasn’t changed in the last year (my hearing aids remember the results of the last test).  My word recognition was 75%.  Not that bad.  A cochlear implant is not even considered unless the word recognition is below 45%.

The doctor cranked up the volume of my hearing aids and said I need to work on hearing strategies--facing the speaker and watching his/her lips, using the different programs in the hearing aids when in a restaurant or auditorium, and asking people to speak louder.

I’m disappointed.  I guess I’ll have to continue to use my favorite word--”What.”

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com