I call what most people call "hearing aids" my earphones simply because I don't want to think of myself as an old man who can't hear even though men who were 64 and couldn't hear well without some aid were much older than I am now when I was a young man. So, it is more true than ever that 60 is the new 40. So, since this is very true for me, maybe I should say since 60 is the new 40 that I'm 44 and I have earphones to help me hear.
You might ask me, "If you can hear well enough to hear people most of the time why did you go get hearing aids? Doesn't it embarrass you?
The actual answer is more difficult than most people actually understand. The answer is that slowly losing your hearing causes more problems than you might think in regard to your natural brain function. I didn't find this out until I visited a hearing specialist. He wanted me to use:
However, first of all Lyric hearing aids are the most expensive even though they also will probably keep whatever hearing you have left the best. But, my ear canals itched when I put them in and everything sounded like I was underwater and electronic and that I was listening to a rock concert live through ONLY electronic speakers. So, I also felt just too claustrophobic with my ear canals plugged up with the Lyric hearing aids on board. So, they are invisible but I personally felt like a robot with no normal sounds at all. However, the one good thing about these is when I listened to stereo music in my truck I cried because I hadn't heard so many treble sounds in a very very long time. But in the end I couldn't sleep with them in my ear canals because they itched and interfered with me going to sleep.
So, I bought Starkey hearing aids because they are very small and relatively invisible, have four programmable settings and at least 50% of the sounds I hear are natural and come around the little speakers through my ear canal. So, it sounds like normal hearing with a hint of electronic which for me more clearly defines sounds in the car with people talking to me from the back seat or vice versa or in a restaurant or other crowded place with a lot of background noise. Most people can hear just fine, they just lose the ability to distinguish consonents like B,T,D,P etc. However, vowels they can still distinguish. So, in a crowded place with a lot of background noise sometimes it mostly just seems like everyone is speaking a foreign language. And after a while you just get tired of being embarrassed asking "What?" or "Pardon?" and just keep quiet and to yourself. So, this isn't good for your brain and eventually doing this all the time will make your brain forget how to hear sounds. So even if you get a hearing aid too late it won't matter anymore because your brain forgot how to hear all the things it did when you were a kid. And then you are deaf.
So, the thing to do is to get hearing aids before you completely lose the ability to hear some sounds. And the earlier you get hearing aids the more likely they can keep you hearing by external means the rest of your life. Because your enemy isn't your hearing mechanism itself. Your enemy is your brain forgetting how to hear sounds and to process sounds at all because of loss of use.
So, rather than getting a type of dementia from losing your hearing, get hearing aids instead. So, then when you are 100 going on 150 or 200 you can thank your lucky stars that I wrote about and told you about all this.
I have my daughters to thank for all this. They and my wife conspired to make me get hearing aids. And then, because I am a big strong man I had to follow through once I made a commitment. Now, it isn't easy because going to a hearing specialist isn't the end it is only the beginning. First, you have to choose what kind of hearing aids you can afford and what you can deal with. And then second you have to get used to wearing them most of the time you aren't showering, swimming, taking a bath, being in the hot tub or doing something that might make them fall out. BEcause after all, even mine cost me $5000 just for two STarkeys, one for each ear. And when I was skiing at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in I think it must have been March I left them on my laptop near the fireplace and forgot that I put them on my laptop and when I got up they fell under the chair I was sitting in near one of the community fireplaces in the hotel. So, I got to my room and sort of freaked out because they are $5000 to replace after all. But luckily, they were under my chair where I had been sitting. So, most of the time I don't get into the shower and other stuff with them on and even if I do I haven't destroyed them yet because I realize soon enough because they have to be designed water resistant because humans sweat is mostly water too. And every day isn't under 80 degrees outside. So, luckily they have survived since I think it was about November 2011 now since my wife and daughters made me promise to get hearing aids and to wear them regularly.
I have noticed as long as I wear them in restaurants and places where I need to converse with people with potential background noises everything is good. But I have learned not to open a window on a car while traveling 40 to 70 miles per hour wearing them. And when some people talk to loud near me I quickly pull them out of my ears so it doesn't hurt my hearing. So, getting used to them takes a while. For example, the movie theaters near where I live have the sound too loud so if I leave them in my ears it would damage my hearing so I don't wear them at movies and often even stuff cotton or earplugs or paper of some kind in my ears to protect my hearing long term. Even with the cotton or kleenex in my ears I still hear every word spoken in the theater. So, getting used to whatever hearing aids you use is important too.
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