I’m crazy about my hearing aid
Hearing aids do not only help you with hearing loss, it also improves your social, emotional and physical
wellbeing. In general, having a hearing aid fitted will improve the quality of your life. Following is Anne Vibeke Friis Nielsen, a 51-year-old psychotherapist from Denmark on her experience with hearing aids:
When Anne first realised she may have a problem with her hearing, she did not hesitate to have it checked out.
Anne first realised there was something wrong when her ex-husband noticed the loud volume of the television set. Anne, on the other hand, did not notice it. This observation prompted Anne to visit her nearest ear specialist, who diagnosed her with moderate hearing loss. Soon afterwards, Anne had a digital hearing aid fitted in her left ear.
Anne says her hearing loss came gradually, and believes it started with a blown eardrum during a flight 10 years earlier. However, many years passed before she realised something was amiss.
“Looking back, I remember having trouble hearing in large groups of people. More and more frequently I had to ask people to repeat what they had said. But I didn’t give it that much thought”, she said.
Anne is used to living with a physical disability — she was diagnosed with heavy myopia at birth, and later with multiple sclerosis. Living with a physical disability is nothing new to Anne, and has taught her to make the best of a bad situation.
Opting for a hearing aid was an easy decision for Anne. “If a small effort can make a big difference in my hearing, why not go for it?”
The transition has been an easy one. “I put it in my ear and that was that. After some time the sound levels in the aid were adjusted to fit my hearing. I still make adjustments from time to time”, she said.
Anne describes her hearing experience as similar to that of riding a bicycle. “You must take time to get to know your hearing aid. Once you master it you hardly notice that it’s there”.
Anne has been living with a hearing aid for more than a year now and describes it as just another part of her daily routine.
However, Anne’s hearing aid does not make the hearing problem go away, in the same way glasses do not cure bad vision, it just improves it. But, unlike in the past, Anne now notices when her hearing loss causes communication difficulties. Unlike most hearing impaired people who can compensate for their hearing loss with their power of vision, Anne cannot as she suffers from strong nearsightedness.
“As an example, I always think about where to position myself in a room with other people”, she said. Thanks to her hearing aid, Anne is now able to hear better in large groups, and she no longer has to ask anybody to repeat themselves.
Source: www.hear-it.org